Factors Influencing Ripple XRP Price

XRP is a cryptocurrency that gets increasingly popular as it has the opportunity to become widely accepted by big financial institutions. Although it is true that Bitcoin is still the go-to crypto at the moment and will not be surpassed any time soon, XRP is doing a pretty good job at keeping at the top of the best cryptos in the world.

There is one small thing that sets XRP apart from other cryptos – the technology on which it is based. Unlike Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies, XRP is not based on the blockchain as we know it. Though it also presents itself as decentralized, XRP uses something called a consensus ledger.

However, what we are more interested in at the moment is the financial rather than the technological aspect of XRP, although the two are widely intertwined in the FinTech industry. Let’s take a look at how XRP is doing from the financial perspective and what factors can potentially affect the XRP price.

How is XRP doing at the moment?

The current price of a single Ripple token is $0.26, but it varies a lot just like with every other crypto. Its highest value happened during January 2018 when the price went up to over $3 per one XRP.

The total number of XRPs is aimed at 100,000,000,000, and this explains a lot why they have such a low price. But when you look at the market cap, it says it all – it is over $10 billion, which is a huge number for the cryptocurrency industry. The only two cryptos that are currently stronger when it comes to the market cap are Ethereum which is $19 billion, and, of course, Bitcoin which still holds the record of $109 billion – over 50% of the total market cap for all cryptocurrencies.

As you can see, people trust XRP – but trust is not the only factor that influences its price. In fact, there are several other factors that make it go up and down. Let’s take a look.

The Technology of Ripple

Whether you like it or not – the technology that fuels XRP is one of the most popular aspects that affect its price. Apart from how it works, you need to understand that the creators of XRP have a specific goal that they want to achieve.

Ripple Labs, the company behind XRP, wants to make international payments much easier and more convenient. Until the creation of the RippleNet, a technology that fuels XRP, there was SWIFT. It was a system for international payments that was used by all the banks in order to transfer money. It was the only way until Ripple arrived.

Many of the big companies started using the RippleNet technology for transactions around the globe. Although they are not conducted in XRP directly, it is used as an intermediary currency. This certainly paves the way for the XRP price to rise and makes a positive impact on this cryptocurrency.

Who knows, maybe one day it will become the only currency used for international transactions.

The Hype

Ah, the almighty hype – something that makes people and things famous in a matter of seconds. The things are no different in the crypto industry. If you talk about a crypto and media write about it, the price of that crypto will change – it has become a proven relationship.

It is no secret that many teams behind certain cryptocurrencies use various strategies to raise the hype about their coins. The team behind XRP consists of highly professional individuals in both the finance and technology, but there are those who know a thing or two about marketing as well.

They started building “strategic partnerships” and established a significant base of customers. All of these things raise the hype and significantly affect the price.

Needless to say, the media does not have to affect the price positively. If they make one wrong step, the hype can turn upside down in seconds, only to become a witch hunt.

The Crypto Holders

There are people who hold vast amounts of certain cryptos – so much that they can actually affect the price of a crypto with their actions. These people are called “whales.” The nickname was created because the whales affect a lot of other small fish with their movement in the ocean, a behavior which nicely depicts how things work in the crypto industry with the big players.

But there are also parts of the world such as South Korea or Malta, where a lot of XRP is located at the moment, and their exchanges, as well as the users of those exchanges, who can affect the price a lot. These two states are the leading traders of XRP at the moment and they can significantly affect the market.

The Government of South Korea

Since this country has already incorporated Ripple into their everyday use, their government has started meddling with XRP. This means that the actions of the government that are related to XRP affect its price a lot since the traders will have to alter their behavior.

One of the first regulations made by this government is the anti-money laundering. They made an announcement where all the accounts holding XRP would have to comply with the regulations, or they would be frozen. It naturally affected the flow of XRP and its price as well.

Where is XRP heading?

There is nothing absolute in the world of cryptocurrency and such is the case with XRP as well. It is inevitable that they are on a very good path and work continuously on becoming better. Their technology is becoming more accepted worldwide, and they are very proud of it.

However, there is one small factor – other cryptocurrencies. Currently, XRP is facing a lot of competition, and the outcome of such rivalry is never certain.

If you are interested in XRP, then you should try and follow all the news regarding this cryptocurrency, primarily focusing on the four factors that were mentioned in this article. That way you will be able to get the most out of it.

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