Ripple hits all time high

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XRP, a cryptocurrency made by Ripple, hit a fresh all-time high Thursday, according to data from Markets Insider.
The company's Asian subsidiary and a group of Japanese financial services companies announced a consortium earlier on Wednesday.
It was trading at $1.26 a coin Thursday at 4:18 p.m. ET.

XRP, the cryptocurrency made by Ripple that is focused on bank transfers, hit a fresh all-time high Thursday of $1.30 a coin, according to Markets Insider data. It started December at around $0.25 a coin.

The cryptocurrency, which is up 71% this week, has been on a tear since Ripple's Asian subsidiary and a group of Japanese credit card companies announced a new consortium Wednesday. The consortium aims to identify how blockchain and distributed ledger technology can be deployed in credit card payments.

The news of the consortium follows a bullish month for the coin, which has been propelled to new heights by interest from Asia, according to reporting by Forbes.

"Asians are going mad for Ripple," Alexey Ivanov, CEO and cofounder of Polynom Crypto Capital, a Moscow-based cryptocurrency and blockchain investment fund manager, told Forbes.

XRP overtook bitcoin cash as the third largest cryptocurrency on the market on December 14. It is up more than 4,100% year-to-date.

Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements.