Title: Ripple Case Study (Part 3 Why, When and How) – Understanding What, Who, Why, When, and How

It seems that my day job has been a lot busier than expected with year end reporting and etc. So my apologies for the delay. Moreover this dang flu is still lingering…its been like 3 weeks now, and I’m taking NYQUILL like its my daily vitamin supplement. I will admit that it’s a great night cap (except for that cough medicine aftertaste). Anyways, to continue on my Ripple research….. onto Part 3. Why, When and How (last part). I plan to look into Ethereum next. So stay turned.

In my last post, I summarized who are the two largest holders of Ripple and how you need to be vigilent in not getting sucked in and get your head handed to you on a platter? Now I have to answer why? Should you own Ripple? How much and at what level? Which addresses the follow up question which is When should you own it and when SHOULDN’T own it. And Lastly how to access XRP?

The above image is from Ripple website. Its pretty easy and simple to understand.

As a reminder, some of the below bullets were collected from various sources that you could easily find yourself, but I’m just summarizing what I’ve uncovered.

Why, When, And How Summary:

Why Invest in Ripple
• For Ripple, establishing itself was as easy as pie. With two well-connected founders using their complex networks, Ripple quickly attracted venture capital and major investors.
• In 2015, Ripple raked in $55 million in venture capital in just one funding round. And this money keeps pouring in with more big investors backing the company weekly.
• One particular investor is worth taking note of. It is a tech giant that hasn’t shown a lot of interest in the bulk of digital currencies: Google.
• Google was one of Ripple’s early backers. Both the mega-giant and its peer Apple prefer the blockchain method of payment to existing credit cards.
• In Ripple, Google saw an opportunity to simplify and secure payments. It knows a good investment when it sees one.
• And so do the other venture capitalists pouring money into Ripple. The names backing Ripple — Andreessen Horowitz, FF Angel IV, and Lightspeed Venture — have stood behind dozens of lucrative startups, including Airbnb, Asana, BuzzFeed, Coinbase, Facebook, Twitter, and Snap.

When to Invest in Ripple
• The recent price volatility of Ripple suggests that there is a floor for the Cryptocurrency.
• That floor currently is around $0.87.

• Granted its hard to fathom if that floor is predicated on any specific momentum or some imaginary line.
• However what we do know is that it was a intra-day event. Within the span of a day, XRP hit $0.87, it also hit a high of $1.7398 and closed at $1.18. What was shocking was that 6M shares of Ripple were traded that moment. It was a the peak volume since the price surge on Dec 21.
• Needless to say there was heavy buying during that time. Not sure who were the buyers but they did come out it in force.
• If we were to ever see Ripple decline close to $1, I suspect that buyers would be trolling.
• The point here is that Ripple should be range bound. At $3.2 The MCAP of Ripple would exceed that of Bitcoin (at least currently based on Bitcoin price). That would be a ridiculous valuation for any company that is a derivative of the actual.

How to invest in Ripple
• Like many other types of alternative Cryptocurrencies, Ripple is not readily investable via Coinbase directly. You will need to go through Bitcoin and invest via another exchange.

• Ripple’s exclusivity means that not everyone is in on it yet. I think that helps in the long run since its not obvious to the pedestrian investor that is just purely speculating. You actually need to take the time to research and figure out how to access XRP
• Typically, most people use Coinbase for the bulk of our digital currency investments. Coinbase allows users to buy Litecoin, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, with hopes of expanding to other digital currencies in the future. Ripple could be on the horizon (note that this was recently shot down but not out, so things could change in the future).
• We don’t want you to wait until then. So, we are going to walk you through buying Ripple on smaller exchanges. That way, you can get the currency while it is under $1.
• The two most popular currency exchanges for investing in Ripple are Poloniex and Kraken. On both platforms, you can exchange Bitcoins for Ripples. Many people choose to set up a Coinbase account and then transfer Bitcoin into Kraken or Poloniex.
• Now, set up your Kraken or Poloniex account. Transfer Bitcoins into your chosen platform and you can start buying. Most altcoins can be purchased with Bitcoins.
• Other potential exchanges include Coinone, Bithumb, Bitfinex. I think its important to go with exchanges that have the largest volume. This is partly due to the fact that there are more players, and if there are more players, there is better liquidity. Hence I recommend going with Bithumb or Bitfinex. But whatever you use, make sure you monitor the volume of XRP and see that it’s a via platform. You don’t want to be stuck with XRP on a platform that people are avoiding. Hence you could get permanently stuck.

Key Takeaways:
• Ripple is an extension of Bitcoin, in that you can’t access Ripple unless you’re willing to convert your bitcoins.
• That means that Bitcoin has more value that Ripple.
• If you see Bitcoin falling, look to buy Bitcoin. Bitcoin is more of a leading indicator of Ripple.
• Ripple is more of a derivative of Bitcoin, in that Ripple needs Bitcoin to survive and not vice versa.
• If one were to prioritize a portfolio of Crypto, I would include Ripple but only as a top 10 holding.
• And not necessarily a Top 5.
• There is too much reliance of Bitcoin to convert Ripple into $$ and not the otherway around.
• Ethereum is more of a true substitute in that you can convert directly from $$$ into Ethereum.
• Unless XRP is able to convert directly into USD, it will always be considered more of a Bitcoin derivative than a standalone crypto like that of Ethereum or Litecoin etc.
• After researching XRP the last few weeks, I’ve concluded that XRP is a good investment if at the right price (<$1).
• Anytime I see XRP about to go under $1, I will probably buy. How much I buy will be based on how much Bitcoin I hold in the portfolio and what price is Bitcoin is at. In otherwords, if Bitcoin goes to below $8000, I would rather buy and hold Bitcoin than go and convert Bitcoin at $8,000 into XRP.
• I would Sell XRP if it hits $1.5- $2. Yes, it could hit $3 but that price surge was due to FOMO and the newness of the news around XRP but there is NO FUNDAMENTAL CASE for XRP to bat $134B Market cap.
• Also, XRP has too many X-factors to worry about (the number of available XRP in Escrow is scary).
• I think XRP’s business model has a value proposition, and hence to hold some XRP (around 5% of a portfolio of crypto makes sense) but not above 10%. Too much risk.

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