The XRP price is way higher than it was at the start of the month—even thriving amid yesterday's 20 percent crypto market drop-off—here's why. December has been a banner month for XRP, the native asset of Ripple. The first surge took place Dec. 12-13, wherein Ripple leapt 84 percent—from $0.27 to $0.51. In the days that followed, it grew again, finding a resistance barrier around the $0.75 mark. Then, yesterday, Ripple shot for the moon again, surging 64 percent in 17 hours past the $1 milestone, progressing all the way to $1.37. Pretty astounding for a coin that began December trading at $0.24. A little over a dollar might not immediately sound like a huge change, but that's well over 400 percent growth in one month. Though we witnessed a major drop-off yesterday, wherein the overall cryptocurrency market cap dropped by as much as 20 percent, Ripple has been hit proportionately less than others, remaining above its yesterday mark. So what's causing this explos...