Ripple has released their first quarterly XRP Markets Report, which provides valuable insights as to how this ecosystem is doing right now. The demand for XRP has been growing steadily, and a total of US$4.6m worth of XRP was purchased directly from Ripple’s registered and licensed money service business. That is quite a positive development for this virtual currency, which continues to gain traction in the financial ecosystem.
A Positive Quarterly Report For Ripple
Things are looking quite positive for the Ripple ecosystem, as players in the financial market continue to show an appetite for this virtual currency. With US$4.6m worth of XRP purchased from the company’s money service business, it goes to show things continue to evolve for Ripple. Moreover, this volume represents both purchases made by existing partners, as well as those with new partners to the XRP ecosystem.
For the time being, it remains unclear what is driving the demand for XRP tokens all of a sudden. The US Presidential elections of 2016 have affected all global financial markets, and an increasing demand for Ripple could be attributed to these developments as well. Digital assets are becoming more popular than ever, and that trend is likely to continue throughout the remainder of 2017.
A second factor that can explain the success of Ripple is the demonetization efforts taking place in several countries. India and Venezuela both saw significant changes to their cash ecosystem, even though things did not work out as originally planned. Additionally, the ongoing capital controls imposed by the Chinese government are only bringing more positive attention to digital assets, including XRP.
It is also possible digital assets such as Ripple have benefited from the increasing demand for Bitcoin by the end of 2016. Bitcoin is still considered to be one of the world’s best-performing assets throughout all of 2016. Other cryptocurrencies have reaped the benefit of this success as well, including Monero and Litecoin, to name a few. XRP underperformed during the Bitcoin price rise, as it depreciated by 2.04%. However, the demand has been strong regardless, which is a positive development for Ripple as a whole.
The bigger question is how XRP will perform throughout 2017. Now that Bitstamp has added both USD and EUR trading pairs for XRP, things can get very interesting moving forward. The Ripple team plans to offer qualified market participants the ability to borrow XRP in the coming months. All of this will bring more positive attention to Ripple, while not diminishing the success of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
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