Major cryptocurrencies are off to a bumpy start to 2018. Ripple’s XRP fell below $ 1 for the second time this year, hovering at $ 0.984, according to data from Markets Insider, amid announcements by the Indian Finance Minister that the government is not considering cryptocurrencies today be legal tender.
The announcement by Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that the Indian government will take all measures to ban the use of these crypto assets to fund illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system has put most cryptocurrencies under pressure.
Ripple nervous after steady growth in 2017
The January XRP price drop came after 12 months of continuous growth for Ripple. The price of the token rose more than 35,000 percent from $ 0.006 at the beginning of 2017.
The January 4 collapse was attributed to announcements by the South Korean government that repeatedly threatened to ban crypto trading.
Most major cryptocurrencies, aside from Etherum, have shown extreme volatility so far in 2018, with Ripple’s XRP token trading trading at less than a third of the high just after the new year.
Ripple was trading at $ 1.02 today at 15:41 GMT, gaining strength after previous lows.
Many tokens have experienced fluctuations of up to 10 percent one way or another, in contrast to the previous year, which was characterized by constant price increases.
On paper, the current Ripple price may not be as impressive as Bitcoin’s price of $ 16,750. However, according to CoinMarketCap, Ripple’s total market cap is now estimated at more than $ 129 billion.
Another important factor is the number of two tokens. There are currently just under 17 million bitcoins, compared to Ripple’s 40 billion.
Investors are now looking for the token for potential gains, with Ripple’s value rising more than 1,000 percent from December 2017 to January 2018.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $ 0.99.
Ripple is going further back than Bitcoin
Ripple is both a transactional network and a crypto token that was launched in 2012. But Ripple’s history actually predates Bitcoin itself and can be traced back to 2004 when it was conceived by Ryan Fugger.
Ripple’s XRP was developed to be the cryptocurrency of choice for banking and global money transfers. It is advertised as the fastest and most scalable digital asset for real-time payments anywhere in the world. Ripple executives believe the main selling point is its liquidity, speed, and the low transaction fees.
“Banks’ liquidity needs are now managed with literally ten trillion floats in these nostro and vostro accounts. We very strongly believe that this is an inefficient model. You can use digital assets to fund liquidity and Ripple is uniquely positioned to take advantage of it, ”said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple.
“Bitcoin takes four hours to complete a transaction. XRP takes 3.6 seconds, ”he said.
Unlike Bitcoin, Ripple was never intended as a payment method for online purchases. It should compete with transaction systems like SWIFT.
Ripple’s price has risen significantly this year, suggesting the token is in vogue, but it remains to be seen where those prices go in the long term.
Via: Business Insider, Express
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