At press time, the combined total market capitalization of cryptocurrency sits just above $470 billion, as coins across the board have started to recover from the massive correction which took place in January and February. In the last 24 hours, however, no cryptocurrency in the Top 50 has outperformed Ripple (XRP) — but what’s driving the price pump?
Ripple Runs
In the last 24 or so hours, the price of Ripple (XRP) has abruptly spiked from a low of $0.90 to $1.08 — representing a 20% increase in each coin’s valuation.
This, of course, is welcome news to Ripple holders, many of whom have been waiting for some positive price action since XRP topped out at $3.83 on January 4th, before plummeting all the way down to $0.58.
But Why Now?
Ripple’s sharp price increase shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that the cryptocurrency has seen nothing but good news for weeks on end.
RippleNet, which provides real-time messaging, clearing, and settlement of financial transactions, has attracted the attention of Brazil’s largest private sector bank and Latin America’s biggest bank by market capitalization, Itaú Unibanco, in addition to IndusInd, a leading private sector bank in India, and Singapore’s major remittance provider, InstaReM.
In mid-February, Saudi Arabia’s central bank penned a deal with Ripple, who will help banks in the oil-rich kingdom settle instantaneous cross-border payments using blockchain software. At the same time, global payments giant Western Union began efforts testing Ripple technology xRapid, “which uses XRP in payment flows.”
Only days before, Ripple signed a deal with major foreign exchange UAE Exchange, who is interested in using the blockchain technology to power their payments. Said Promoth Manghat, CEO of UAE Exchange:
Incorporating Ripple’s blockchain technology into our payments systems will bring customers an enhanced, new payments experience. The early adoption of this game-changing technology allows us to offer a competitive service, as it will have an impact on the speed and cost of cross-border transactions.
On top of that, Banco Santander also announced in the beginning of February that same-day international mobile payments utilizing Ripple’s distributed ledger technology are ready for a Q1 launch.
With such a long and healthy string of announcements, one can’t help but wonder why the price decided to pump now.
Why do you think Ripple (XRP) has pumped over the last 24 hours? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of AdobeStock, Bitcoinist archives.
