Ripple’s XRP is not your run-of-the-mill cryptocurrency. It’s apart from the rest for many reasons. One of them is that it was the world’s most profitable digital asset during 2017, which was a year in which basically every cryptocurrency in the market was profitable. Another reason is that it was again the most profitable coin in the next year, 2018, in which was a nightmare for all investors as the market lost 85% of its value.
There’s more to distinguish XRP, however. Unlike most blockchain projects in the market, which have no particular aim or use case in mind (so many of them just aspire to be a Bitcoin imitator), XRP has always had a specific use case in mind. Ripple’s purpose, since 2012, has always been to use blockchain technology, the internet, and the company’s cryptocurrency (XRP) to transfer value across borders quickly, cheaply and reliably.
The Californian firm’s commitment to that use case has led it to look for XRP users mainly among banks, remittance services, and financial institutions. It’s never aspired to be a retail currency or a micropayments system (as Bitcoin could be considered to be).
Ripple’s never wanted for you and me to use XRP to pay for goods and services online but for banks to use it to send money from one country to another. That market is vast so, if Ripple could succeed to dominate it, XRP would be huge in terms of demand, trading volumes and market prices. But before Ripple can achieve that goal, it needs adoption for the coin, and that’s a problem.
The thing about banks and the financial industry is that they’re traditionally not early adopters of any technology. They usually arrive last at every party so Ripple has understood that XRP must be adopted and used in other ways before the world’s banks will take it seriously as a means to exchange value. That’s why, over the last few months, Ripple has been working hard to find non-institutional problems that can be solved using XRP. And it’s not been doing badly at all.
New use cases
One of the most interesting examples of Ripple’s new approach is in several debit cards available in Europe that are funded with XRP. Those plastics allow their owners to use their XRP as if it was their local fiat currency to pay for goods and services online and offline because the cards are issued by Visa or Mastercard, depending on the specific product.
Rumors and requests for XRP’s inclusion in Skype to exchange money have been floating around for months. And you can already use XRP in Twitter or Reddit to compensate the content creators that you respect the most.
And now, continuing with that new focus, Ripple has found a new partner in NowPayments. This is a new payments processing company that allows businesses to accept cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP are included in the service). So now every business that takes advantage of NowPayments’ services can collect XRP tokens.
Ripple keeps expanding, and its fundamentals remain strong. The events we’ve seen in the cryptocurrency market over the last five weeks virtually guarantee that XRP’s price will take off soon.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.