XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) trades at $1.24 after gaining 20.7% in the past 24 hours. Thi si its biggest move since February 6, when it rose 21%. XRP has now passed USDC into fifth place by market value, and is worth $77.47 billion.

Three days ago the XRP price was at a cycle low of $0.9877 and nothing about the chart suggested a move like this. So what changed?

What Set Off the Crypto Rally

The XRP price moved on something outside crypto entirely. On Wednesday, August 19, the US Treasury under Secretary Scott Bessent said it would at least double the size of its long-end buyback operations, raising the cap from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, running from September 9 through November 4.

The…