Solana, ETH and XRP soar as spot bitcoin ETFs lift entire crypto market

With the highly-anticipated spot bitcoin ETFs finally trading, just about the entire crypto market is surging with many top tokens rising by more than 10%.

Some of the biggest digital tokens by market capitalization are soaring by double digits over the past 24 hours as crypto enthusiasts around the world cheer the Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to approve spot bitcoin ETFs yesterday. The agency approved a total of 11 that are trading on the NYSE, Nasdaq and Cboe exchanges. 

Parallel to that, popular tokens are rising precipitously. Ether, the second largest digital currency by market capitalization, had risen by nearly 12% as of 10:05 a.m. ET. That comes amid Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas saying  that there is a 70% likelihood a spot Ethereum ETF will be approved in May.

Other top tokens also jumped by more than 10%, with Solana up 14%, XRP up 11%, and both Cardano and Avalanche rising my more than 20%, according to The Block Price Page.

'The people want it'

XRP's rise may be buoyed by news yesterday that the crypto-payments firm Ripple Labs, which is known for using the digital token, announced it is planning to buy back $285 million worth of its shares from early investors, a move that will value the company at $11.3 billion.

"It's a win, because the people want it," CNBC television analyst Jim Cramer said ahead of the ETFs beginning to trade on Thursday.

"Everyone wanted this," he added, referencing his discussions with retail investors. "People didn't want a situation where they had their money in some bank that just disappeared overnight."