Ripple definitely has been shooting up a lot recently! Any big news surrounding it?
Yes, it's probably connected with news about Abu-Dhabi bank accepting this technology.
And yet I guess XRP i very far from being considered a solid altcoin. The price is ridiculously small even now. And I guess it will never reach $1 whereas even this price is very low for a cryptocurrency.
Seems pretty solid to me its the backbone of the ripple network. When XRP is used as the payment channel, bridge currency, it will allow for the ultra fast international transactions the banks are interested in. Its the fastest way to move currencies using XRP to bridge. Seems pretty solid to me.