Ripple Is Up 3800%: Should You Be Buying?

While Bitcoin​ and Ethereum​ continue to enjoy most of the limelight, there are other promising cryptocurrencies out there.

Ripple is a venture-backed startup that provides global financial settlement solutions that reduce the total cost of settlement by enabling banks to transact directly and instantly, while ensuring certainty. It aims to "enable the world to exchange value like it already exchanges information – giving rise to an Internet of Value (IoV).”

XRP, its digital currency, is a fast, scalable digital asset, enabling real-time global payments anywhere in the world. “Built for enterprise use, XRP offers banks and payment providers a reliable, on demand option to source liquidity for cross-border payments,” says the firm.

Ripple’s digital asset has witnessed tremendous growth during Q12017 with market participants purchasing $6.7MM directly from Ripple’s registered and licensed money service business (MSB), as per its quarterly report.

XRP is currently the third largest cryptocurrency​ in terms of market capitalization; with almost $10 billion in market capitalization, it accounts for roughly around 9% of the cryptocurrency market. Its price has gone up from $0.006684 in the beginning of 2017 to $0.258368, an increase of over 38x.

Source: Highcharts.com

Ripple is partnering with banks and financial institutions to improvise cross-border payment solutions. It is a part of Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force Steering Committee and co-chairs the W3C’s Web Payments Working Group. Fidor Bank AG was the first bank to integrate the Ripple protocol for real-time global settlement in 2014. Today, some of the most prominent global banks including Standard Chartered, National Australia Bank (NAB), MUFG, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Santander, Royal Bank of Canada and CIBC are a part of its growing network.

Should You Buy?
Ripple has a long way to go, but considering its pace of expansion, one should not shudder at the prospect of buying XRP. Its value is increasing considerably as more and more financial institutions are adopting it or are in the process of adopting it as a payments gateway for transfers and investments. Ripple is also making it to cryptocurrency fund portfolios, which will further strengthen its position.

A demonstrated commitment to technology, innovation, and the presence of a global network have allowed Ripple to gain the confidence of market leaders in the financial world. Cryptocurrencies​ are the future of the financial world and Ripple can play a very important role.

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