The River crypto token has surged about 1,900% over the past month, lifting it into the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation following high-profile endorsements.
RIVER rose from around $5 in late December to about $82 this week, giving the token a market capitalisation of roughly $1.6 billion and ranking it among the largest digital assets, according to CoinGecko.
The rally followed backing from BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and Tron founder Justin Sun, both of whom publicly promoted the token and have a financial stake in the River ecosystem.
Sun said last week that he invested $8 million in the protocol to support the integration of Tron into River, while Hayes earlier called for additional exchange listings as the token began its sharp ascent.
River operates a multi-chain stablecoin abstraction protocol designed to remove the need for bridging stablecoins across blockchains and currently manages about $161 million in total value locked, down from an October peak of $605 million.
Blockchain analytics firm CoinGlass has cautioned that RIVER’s rise may be influenced by derivatives dynamics, warning that funding rate manipulation can trap traders into crowded long positions.
River’s over-collateralised stablecoin satUSD has a market capitalisation of about $159 million, making it the 40th largest stablecoin, as RIVER continued to set new price highs despite broader market weakness.
At the time of reporting, River price was $70.25.