The River crypto token has surged about 1,900% over the past month, lifting it into the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation following high-profile endorsements.
RIVER rose from around $5 in late December to about $82 this week, giving the token a market capitalisation of roughly $1.6 billion and ranking it among the largest digital assets, according to CoinGecko.
The rally followed backing from BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and Tron founder Justin Sun, both of whom publicly promoted the token and have a financial stake in the River ecosystem.
Sun said last week that he invested $8 million in the protocol to support the integration of Tron into River, while Hayes earlier called for additional exchange listings as the token began its sharp ascent.
River operates a multi-chain stablecoin abstraction protocol designed to remove the need for bridging stablecoins across blockchains and currently manages about $161 million in total value locked, down from an October peak of $605 million.
Blockchain analytics firm CoinGlass has cautioned that RIVER’s rise may be influenced by derivatives dynamics, warning that funding rate manipulation can trap traders into crowded long positions.