5 reasons crypto dino coins like XRP, Tron and ADA are going parabolic

A swathe of older altcoins colloquially known as “dino coins” have rallied while many of the newer tokens have stalled; analysts explain some of the reasons why.

The blistering rallies staged by a swathe of “dino coins,” including Ripple, Tron, Cardano, and Hedera, have left many crypto-natives in disbelief, seeming to have come out of nowhere on little news or with an obvious catalyst. 

So what propelled the massive gains, and will it continue in 2025?

Leading the dino coin comeback is XRP XRP$2.14, which rallied over 450% in a single month, adding around $100 billion to its market cap and surging past Solana SOL$212.87 and Tether USDT$1.00 to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by total value. 

Ripple’s XRP has staged a historic rally, gaining over 450% in a month. Source: TradingView

Other old dinosaur projects are roaring back to life thanks to the market’s renewed appetite for altcoins. In the 30 days to Dec. 9, Tron TRX$0.2669 is up 96.7%, Cardano ADA$0.9851 gained 145%, Algorand ALGO$0.4094 has jumped 272%, VeChain VET$0.05616 surged 194%, Stellar XLM$0.4007 is up 383%, and Hedera HBAR$0.2838 gained 533%.

Regulatory clarity has been great for altcoins

“One major factor is the imminent regulatory clarity, which has a particularly positive impact on many altcoins,” Mads Eberhardt, senior cryptocurrency analyst at Steno Research, told Cointelegraph.

The election of Donald Trump and the pro-crypto stance his administration has promised to take have been major catalysts for altcoins in particular, Eberhardt noted.

“Altcoins have long lacked the regulatory certainty that Bitcoin and Ethereum have benefited from.”

“This is especially true for altcoins like XRP, which faced scrutiny from the SEC under Chair Gary Gensler. XRP’s challenges were evident when many US-based exchanges delisted it in late 2020 and early 2021 due to the SEC lawsuit against Ripple,” he said. 

“XRP’s performance during the 2021 bull market was relatively subdued compared to the broader market. Eberhardt said. “However, the situation has shifted positively following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 US presidential election and the appointment of a new SEC chair, bringing much-needed clarity to altcoins like XRP.”

Paul Atkins, the Co-Chairman of the Digital Chamber’s Token Alliance and a board member of the Digital Chamber of Commerce, has been nominated as the new SEC boss. 

Investors expect Ripple to win legal battle with SEC under Trump

eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert agreed, telling Cointelegraph a key reason for XRP’s rally — and the boost it provided to other altcoins — was the belief that the years long legal battle raging between Ripple Labs and the SEC would finally come to an end.

“Trump’s election and Gary Gensler’s expected resignation are huge boosts for crypto markets. Clearer regulation and a better framework for crypto assets are also wins here, particularly for XRP,” said Gilbert.

Ripple was an early major target of the SEC against a crypto or blockchain firm. The commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020, alleging the company used the XRP token as an unregistered security to raise funds. 

On Aug. 7, a judge found Ripple liable for just $125 million in the suit — a figure 94% lower than the SEC’s request for $2 billion in fines — leading Ripple to celebrate the end of the case. However, the SEC appealed the judgment, breathing new life into the case. 

Source: Brad Garlinghouse

“The investor view is that a new SEC chair will end Ripple’s long legal nightmare — which has raged on for years — and see its stablecoin approved. This has helped drive a tailwind under these other legacy assets, which have spent a long time in the crypto winter,” said Gilbert. 

South Korean investors love altcoins

In a recent report, 10x Research founder Markus Thielen said retail crypto trading in South Korea was one of the largest catalysts of recent altcoin outperformance. 

Retail crypto volumes reached their second-highest level of the year on Dec. 2, topping a staggering $18 billion on the day, with South Korean traders frenzying over a series of “high momentum” altcoins, namely XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), and Stellar (XLM).

Thielen said that combining the recent uptick in trading activity for altcoins with a relatively “mild” funding rate for Bitcoin was all but a surefire sign that an “alt season” could be underway.

Bitcoin’s funding rate is sitting at a “mild” 15% while interest in altcoins skyrockets. Source: 10x Research

“We are seeing one of the largest divergences recorded between a relatively mild Bitcoin funding rate at 15% annualized while retail trading volumes in Korea have ramped up to $18bn.”

“The action is clearly in the altcoin market and everybody needs to have a strategy to catch these waves but still remain disciplined,” he added. 

The brands are familiar to retail investors coming into the market 

Another reason “dino coins” may have pumped harder than newer tokens that have cropped up in the last two years is because they’re already familiar brands to retail investors, said Eberhardt. 

“Altcoins such as XRP and ADA have become household names in the crypto space, meaning that retail investors are likely familiar with them or may have even held them in the past,” he said. 

“As retail participation in the crypto market increases, these investors are more inclined to invest in cryptocurrencies they already know.”

Dino coins are as cultish as memecoins — with a twist

Memecoin evangelist Murad Mahmudov traced the recent outperformance of older altcoins back to the “cult” status of their communities, arguing that a delusional conviction was the primary driver behind the recent pumps for tokens like XRP and TRON. 

“The most bullish thing you can have for a token is literally people becoming full-time, unpaid evangelists for the project. We’ve already seen this a lot with Ripple, Chainlink, Cardano and Dogecoin,” he told Cointelegraph. 

However, pseudonymous trader Kun took issue with the claim that all price performance can be traced back to the cult status of their communities, saying that a fundamental belief in the utility of a token — justified or not — is what really matters at the end of the day. 

“The difference is XRP holders truly believe in the fundamentals, they aren’t buying them as social cults,” Kun said.

“If you said to an XRP holder it’s a meme with no fundamentals to back, they would shred you down,” he said in a Dec. 3 X post. 

Will dino coins continue upward?

Now that altcoins appear to be finally enjoying their moment in the sun, many investors are wary that it could just be a flash in the pan. 

However, Eberhardt believes that altcoins are only just getting warmed up. 

“I think it is just the beginning of an altcoin season.”

“The regulatory clarity in the US is, in fact, much more positive for altcoins than, for instance, Bitcoin, while the decreasing interest rates also support that market participants are more inclined to make investments further out on the risk curve.”

Tom Mitchelhill