What is fueling its rise?
It's a innovative coin
That sums it up nicely.
1. No mining required -100% proof of stake (this beats PeerCoin's main advantage). No wasted mining power
2. Faster transaction times than Bitcoin or Litecoin
3. Alias system (beats Namecoin's unique selling point).
4. Ridiculous number of cool features coming in the next month - peer to peer decentralised exchange, marketplace, anonymous messaging system, voting system