Although the opinions on Ripple and its XRP asset may still be somewhat divided, it is evident this particular project is doing something right. Over the past few weeks, we have seen the XRP price rise to US$0.70, and last night to more than US$1. No one expected to see the XRP price hit such highs this year, but it is evident no project should be ignored in the world of cryptocurrency and digital assets.
XRP Price is Setting new Records
As the year 2017 comes to a close, we will see more fireworks in the cryptocurrency industry. Whereas the Bitcoin price is no longer breaking records right now, most altcoins have been appreciating in value over the past few weeks. One of those altcoins – even though it is not a cryptocurrency – is Ripple’s XRP. More specifically, the XRP price increased all the way from US$0.25 a few months ago to just over US$1 last night.
While some industry experts had expected the XRP price to rise to US$2 in 2018 or later, very few people thought US$1 would be possible, especially considering that the XRP price had hovered near the US$0.006 mark until March of this year. It has been an extremely bullish year for XRP holders, even though many people still dismiss this token as a banker’s coin. That may very well be true, but it doesn’t make Ripple’s asset any less valuable than normal cryptocurrencies.
Over the past 24 hours, we have seen the XRP price rise from US$0.725 all the way to US$1.02 without too much opposition. Granted, there has been some profit-taking at the US$0.85, US$0.92, and US$0.95 levels, but nothing has been able to keep the XRP price down for more than a few minutes. Whether or not XRP can maintain this momentum above the US$1 threshold is very difficult to predict right now. Anything is possible in the world of digital assets, even with Bitcoin falling short pretty much every day.
As evidenced by a strong 24-hour trading volume of over US$2.3 billion, the demand for XRP has certainly solidified. Looking at the charts, it seems more people are interested in buying XRP than they are in selling it, which means there may be even more bullish momentum yet to come. The lockup of 55 billion XRP by the Ripple team has done wonders for the value of this digital asset; that much is rather evident.
Unsurprisingly, Bithumb is the primary catalyst for this XRP uptrend. In South Korea, XRP is valued at US$1.17, which means the rest of the world still has plenty of catching up to do. Whether or not the XRP price will reach US$1 on any of the Western exchanges later today remains to be seen. Right now, none of them are even close, as the highest value was recorded on Bitfinex at US$0.94. This will be a pretty interesting situation to keep an eye on moving forward, to say the very least.
All things considered, it seems the best is yet to come for all cryptocurrencies and tokens in 2017. While the Bitcoin momentum has seemingly run out, the digital assets and currencies which actually bring something useful to the table are surging in value. Bitcoin Cash has had a good run, the XRP price is moving up, and Monero set a new all-time high yesterday as well. This is not the last big run we will see in the cryptocurrency world this year, although it is evident Bitcoin may not be the currency to watch in this regard.
