XRP battles for second place on encrypted cards – Quartz

This is not the "flippening" that we expected, the day the ether finally exceeds the market capitalization of bitcoin. Bitcoin remains at the top of encrypted cards, but for the first time since the beginning of January, there is a new number 2 in town. His name is XRP.

Yes, XRP and Ether have changed positions several times in the past few hours due to small price fluctuations. But over a 24-hour period (September 21), the XRP, the digital asset primarily owned and controlled by Ripple, jumped by more than 50%, peaking at $ 0.77 per unit. The South Korean Won accounts for more than one-fifth of the XRP-related global trading volume, suggesting that demand may be partly on the rise.

On social media, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have participated in the resurgence of XRP.

Why is XRP increasing?

It is difficult to determine a specific reason for the rise of the XRP. On September 17, Ripple's ex-officer, Sagar Sarbhai, told CNBC that he was "very confident" that the xRapid system could be part of a live product in the coming months. , which would have triggered speculative transactions. "Buy the rumor, sell the news"). Then, on September 19, Ripple announced that PNC Treasury Management had joined RippleNet, the company's network of banks and payment providers.

What is the XRP?

XRP is often described as a "gateway currency" on the xRapid platform. This means that XRP would serve as an intermediate unit of account when converting between currencies. Instead of converting dollars directly into euros, a user can first convert his dollars to XRP and then convert his XRP to euros. While Ripple claims that this digital asset would allow faster and more reliable international transactions, it is not clear that the company avoids the volatility and liquidity problems associated with the XRP itself.

Of course, XRP also remains at the heart of a class action, with some buyers alleging that the sale of the digital asset by Ripple was the sale of unregistered securities. Be that as it may, with the Ripple's Swell conference next month, the company will receive the attention of soaring XRP prices, regardless of its longevity. And, if XRP continues this performance, Ripple could consider changing the brand of its conference into "Tsunami".