Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, expressed regret after selling most of his XRP holdings just weeks before the cryptocurrency reached its yearly high on Thursday.

In a video posted on X, Portnoy said: 'I could have made millions of dollars, and I want to cry. I no longer own it, although I used to be the leader of the XRP army.'

According to data from Nansen, XRP recently surpassed its yearly high of $3.29 and skyrocketed to $3.60, marking a 19.61% increase in the past 24 hours.

Portnoy Sold XRP At $2.40 After Warning About Circle's Competition

Portnoy revealed that he sold XRP when the price hit $2.40, after someone warned him about competition from stablecoin issuer Circle.

Ripple Labs, the company behind XRP, applied for a national banking license in the U.S. on July 2, just two days after Circle filed for a similar license.

At the Consensus 2025 conference, Portnoy admitted that he did not have strong faith in XRP, buying it out of fear of missing out (FOMO), hoping it could become the next Bitcoin.

According to CoinGlass, XRP's price surge has seen about $68.16 million in short positions liquidated in the past 24 hours.

This surge is part of the overall bullish trend in the cryptocurrency market that began on July 9, after Bitcoin surged past $112,000, its highest level since May.

Amid the strong rise of major cryptocurrencies, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization is rapidly approaching the $4 trillion mark.

This price surge coincides with recent legislative momentum in the U.S., boosting investor confidence and sparking renewed enthusiasm for digital assets broadly.

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed three cryptocurrency-related bills, sending one bill directly to President Donald Trump and the other two to the Senate.

These moves are part of the broader effort of the Trump administration to make the United States the 'cryptocurrency capital of the world' during an event the president called 'cryptocurrency week.'

XRP Perpetual Futures Open Interest Reaches Record $8.8 Billion

XRP saw a spike in notional open interest for perpetual futures on Wednesday.

Theo CoinGlass, the total notional open interest, which is the total value of leveraged positions held by traders, has risen to an all-time high of $8.8 billion on Wednesday.

This figure corresponds to nearly 2.9 billion XRP in open contracts.

The previous record for XRP's notional open interest was $8.3 billion, achieved at the end of January before former U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term.

Across most exchanges, the funding rate for XRP is positive and rising, signaling a market where buyers are willing to pay sellers to maintain positions, a typical indicator of bullish sentiment.

Reports say that the number of wallets holding at least 1 million XRP tokens has also surged to an all-time high.

Data shows that wallets holding 1 million XRP or more collectively control over 47.32 billion tokens.