January was a month of significant development in the cryptocurrency space. A meme coin directly linked to the president of the U.S. was launched and quickly became a big talking point worldwide, running into billions of dollars in capitalization on the way.

However, despite the frenzy and impressive returns, the Official Trump coin was not the most profitable cryptocurrency this month. Onyxcoin stole the limelight.

What happened: The Ethereum ETH/USD–based token exploded nearly 1400% in January, topping the monthly gainers list for the month.

XCN crossed a billion dollars in market capitalization on Jan. 26,  a dramatic increase from a little over $70 million at the beginning of the year. Such values were last seen more than two years ago in Nov. 2022.

XCN, the governance and utility token of the Web3 protocol Onyx, skyrocketed following the resolution of a long-standing issue with Justin Sun, founder of the Tron TRX/USD blockchain.

The TRUMP meme coin took the second spot, clocking a fourfold jump since it was launched two weeks ago, just ahead of Trump's presidential inauguration. 

The token reached a fully diluted valuation of $75 billion shortly after its debut but has since plummeted over 65%. 

Entities affiliated with The Trump Organization control 80% of the coin’s supply, fueling speculation that the president is personally profiting from the market moves. The coin has a 20% supply open for public trading.  

See Also: Elon Musk’s Tesla Records $600 Million In Paper Gains On Bitcoin In Q4 Thanks To New Accounting Rule 

Alongside, XRP XRP/USD and Litecoin LTC/USD made notable advances, at 46.13% and 23.38%, respectively.

A new-look SEC, under a cryptocurrency-friendly administration, roused XRP investors, as the coin, once mired in legal squabbles, ascended to become the market’s third-largest cryptocurrency.

LTC reacted to the progress on its exchange-traded fund application, with analysts predicting that the next Wall Street cryptocurrency ETF will be tied to the proof-of-work coin.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin BTC/USD gained 11% in January, while Ethereum fell by 2.26%.

Photo by Avi Rozen on Shutterstock

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