Ripple’s digital token XRP surged from near anonymity to become the second most valuable cryptocurrency in 2017. After a 32,000% rise in one year, the asset was bound for a correction. By the end of January, 2018, XRP had lost 60% of its value. So is it time to ‘buy the dipple’ on Ripple?
If so, know what you’re getting into. Part of the rapid increase was possibly fueled by investors who did not understand the coin they were buying. Ripple is a unique digital asset. The underlying technology behind Ripple is meant for bank transactions and is used as an alternative to money transfers systems like SWIFT. However, some in the crypto community feel that this type of centralization is counter to what they want to achieve with a decentralized and unregulated crypto market.
A few factors were responsible for Ripple’s quick surge and drop. Investors were seen to be riding a wave of speculation and increased interest in the entire cryptocurrency market. However, this was followed by a wave of generally negative sentiment from the second week of January onward, including new regulatory sanctions in Asia and the numerous reports about China stomping out crypto exchanges.
XRP hit a general peak around $4 before getting as low as $0.56 on February 6.
Ripple owns 60% of their own supply of XRP. Two of their products are sold to banks. xCurrent is the software that settles cross-border payments and this is their answer to the problem of real-time settlement. Over 100 banking clients are already using xCurrent, according to their CEO Bradley Garlinghouse.
Then there is xRapid, which is where XRP tokens are actually used. They’re meant to reduce liquidity costs for financial institutions doing business in emerging markets. Most of the time, these accounts need to be pre-funded with local currency. XRP acts as a proper medium of exchange. For example, say Bank “Emergent” wants to sell $1 USD and buy XRP. This XRP can then be transferred to a digital exchange and be sold back to buy Brazilian Real (BRL). Now you have instant liquidity in another currency market.
This is the central use case for the currency and moving forward will be the most important aspect determining XRP price.
“The price of XRP over three hours, over three days, over three weeks, or even three months, that is not success. That’s not how I measure success. I think about success over the next three to five years.” – Brad Garlinghouse on recent price changes and Ripple’s market cap.
Recovery in sight for XRP?
XRP is trading above $1.00 as of the time of writing, and might be poised for a recovery. Investors are beginning to understand that Ripple is not a standard cryptocurrency, but more of an alternative digital asset used for institutional settlement and transfer exchanges.
Price will be influenced as more institutions adopt this technology. UAE Exchange just signed a deal with Ripple for their cross-border payments. They’re signed on to use the RippleNet Network – which uses the blockchain to commence real-time international payments.
CEO Promoth Manghat says that incorporating Ripple’s blockchain into their payment systems will give their customers an enhanced experience. The UAE has a substantial presence in the $575 billion global remittance market. While they won’t be directly using XRP, this is good news for the company. The UAE Exchange is responsible for millions of transactions between retail customers in the United Arab Emirates and for international transfers.
Last month, Moneygram began testing Ripple’s xRapid service. If UAE exchange has confidence in one of their products, the sentiment may spread to other products that utilize XRP directly like xRapid.
Either way, this type of news is helping stabilize XRP price and helping foster confidence after the crypto markets were dealt a blow earlier this year.
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If you’re thinking of buying the dipple on Ripple, remember to do your own research! You might be finding this post three months after publication on February 12th, 2018! As always, opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Crypto Briefing or its parents, affiliates, or staff.
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