The number of unique addresses on the Ripple blockchain has surpassed 200,000 for the first time since early 2020, according to data from analyst firm Santiment.

Despite the decline in the cryptocurrency market, the XRP coin continues to hold its ground. On Thursday, June 30th, Bitcoin again fell below $18,700, and other major cryptocurrencies followed suit. However, XRP is holding up better than most altcoins, analysts at Santiment noted. XRP quotes got out of the general trend – on the same day, the coin rate rose from $0.30 to $0.33, demonstrating a slight increase.

The XRP price has been hit hard since Ripple was embroiled in a lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the end of 2020. The agency accused the company of conducting an unregistered ICO nine years ago and called XRP a security.

Before the SEC lawsuit, XRP ranked third in terms of market capitalization of cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin and Ethereum, and now the coin is in eighth place in the ranking. Despite the protracted legal battle with the regulator, many XRP holders are confident that Ripple has a chance to defeat the SEC.

In May, Ripple announced a partnership with the Lithuanian payment platform FINCI to expand the geography of payments using the RippleNet On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution in Europe. In part, this also contributes to strengthening the position of XRP in the cryptocurrency market. According to CoinShares, investors are eager to get access to XRP-based products – $7 million was invested in them in early June.