Messari, a leading crypto analytics firm, has recently published an in-depth report on the XRP Ledger’s performance in Q3 2023. The data, accumulated in association with XRPScan, CoinGecko, and Coin Metrics, paints a picture of growth in certain areas while highlighting potential challenges in others.
XRP Ledger Sees Robust Growth
Messari’s report highlights that following the landmark decision in the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit in July, which confirmed that XRP is not a security, the market capitalization swelled by 11.9% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) and a staggering 59.9% year-to-date (YTD).
Further underlining the vibrancy of the XRP market is the Q3 data that pegs the token as the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, standing at a robust $27.8 billion. This marks an impressive reversal from the second quarter, nullifying its dip and placing it on par with the figures seen at the end of Q1.
“Average daily values for transactions and all types of active addresses reached yearly lows in Q3,” said Messari. Despite this, there was a net increase of around 125,000 accounts in Q3, bringing the total to 4.81 million. New addresses swelled by 14.6% to 159,100, and deleted addresses decreased by a sizable 68.3% QoQ, retracting from the unusual spike witnessed in Q2.
The report also touched upon the technical intricacies of the XRP Ledger, noting that the active recipient metric, which represents addresses receiving transfers or other transactions, significantly influenced activity surges. Senders, mainly exchanges and custody solutions, played a pivotal role in these spikes, distributing tokens to vast swathes of previously dormant recipients.
Messari underscored a discrepancy between the numbers of active recipient and sender addresses. They attributed this inequality to centralized exchanges and custodians using destination tags and executing payment transactions. Such transactions have more receiving than sending addresses, which skews the metrics.
Notably, between July 30 to August 13, the XRPL averaged 122,000 daily active recipient addresses, marking a substantial 3.3x of the daily average in Q3.
Delving into the transactional landscape of the XRP Ledger, Messari elucidated that daily transactions comprise 29 different types, from payments to NFT burns. “OfferCreate,” a transaction that submits orders for crypto asset exchanges, remained dominant.
This type of transaction initiates a DEX limit order but doesn’t necessarily culminate in an exchange unless an existing open Order is fulfilled. Payment transactions saw a 25.2% QoQ increase, reaching an average of 226,000 daily.
The decentralized exchange on the ledger witnessed a significant uptick in daily volume, rocketing by 390% from $0.5 million in Q2 to $2.7 million in Q3. This is suggestive of a burgeoning interest in decentralized trading on the ledger. NFT transactions also increased, rising by 7.3% to reach 16,671 in Q3 from 15,540 in Q2.
Flurry Of Technical Advancements
In terms of technical progress, Messari highlights the numerous initiatives undertaken in the ecosystem over the last quarter. “New developments, both on the base layer and on other networks in the greater ecosystem, aim to create additional use cases for the XRPL,” the firm remarked.
On the mainnet, the integrated automated market maker was incorporated into the node software rippled V1.12.0. This will boost the liquidity of tokenized assets and provide opportunities for retail users to contribute to liquidity.
“Hooks,” a programmability solution, is live on devnet and approaching integration with Xahau Network. Xahau, built on Hooks, released its whitepaper this quarter, indicating the next wave of applications and solutions poised to leverage the ledger’s capabilities. Another feature, Clawback, enables asset issuers to claw back user funds to meet regulatory requirements.
In conclusion, the Q3 data and insights by Messari present an optimistic picture of XRP Ledger’s continued growth and relevance in the crypto sphere. Its robust growth, coupled with strategic technical advancements, paints a future ripe with opportunities for the XRP Ledger.
At press time, XRP traded at $0.5758.
