Disclaimer: This is not financial advice nor should anyone take my thoughts as financial advisements. These are mere opinions, you should take with your financial advisor before entering into any transaction.

2017 was the year of Ripple blasting to the moon, Ethereum revolutionizing development, Bitcoin nearing $20,000 USD, and Stellar replicating itself over and over again as it neared $1 USD.

So one of these coins has to be the top performing coin of 2017, right?

Look closer.

Ripple (XRP): Up 36,000+%

Stellar (XLM): Up 14,000+%

Ethereum (ETH): Up 9,000+%

Litecoin (LTC): Up 5,000+%

Bitcoin (BTC): Up 1,300+%

Photo by Andre Francois on Unsplash

As you can see, Bitcoin got all the press, but 2017 was definitely the year of the altcoin. An informed reader might notice a big ommission in the above list. 2017’s top performing coin is not listed above, and it’s success outshines even Ripple’s great performance.

2017’s top coin was a blip on January 1, 2017. It announced itself in the spring of 2017, and went from below a penny to around $37 USD by January 2, 2018. A $100 investment would’ve netted an investor around a half a million dollars in about 9 months time. That’s a top performer!

By now, you know I am talking about the product formerly known as RaiBlocks. It’s jump to fame overtook the fourth quarter of 2017, and it quickly took hold as a top 25 coin. From obscurity to the VIP club in less than a year.

Just take a look at the final two weeks of 2017:

XRB Pricing End of 2017

Even if you invested late, you still would’ve made 1,500+% returns in two weeks. That is tremendous growth.

So what happened?

As many can attest, the beginning of 2018 has been rough for investors. This market correction has been harsh on investors that were late to the game, and this has caused all coins, even the might Ripple and Ethereum, to see significant losses. So that is a definite factor.

However, XRB had two more issues that caused it to drop to a value around $11 USD.

XRB Chart for 2018

The first factor to hit XRB was a glitch with withdrawal procedures on a few exchanges. This quickly culminated with scandal and intrigue. Bitgrail, an Italian exchange, instituted severe verification procedures that quickly led people to question its legitimacy. Many accused Bitgrail of running a scam and stealing from investors. This caused XRB to drop by 30% in only six hours. As we currently sit, there are many accounts and XRB sitting in limbo. This is still having a negative impact on XRB’s valuation.

The second factor, and the reason for this article’s title, is XRB’s complete rebrand. During the market correction I was startled to see RaiBlocks nowhere in the top 50 coins. Only after some research did I discover that RaiBlocks had been rebranded as Nano. The rebrand initially caused a surge in price and positive movement. This increase was quickly wiped by Bitcoin falling below $6,000 (albeit briefly) and the momentum stalled. Cryptocurrency is confusing to most of the public, and now they are likely to be confused when they research XRB.

Why are there multiple names?

Is it a scam?

This will not make sense to new investors. They will see articles heralding RaiBlocks as a great investment…and then they can’t find it on any exchanges. That’s one of the purposes of this article: to help confused researchers.

RaiBlocks = XRB = Nano

They are the same thing.

All that being said, I like the rebrand effort. RaiBlocks is a strange name, and Nano sounds smooth and efficient. I believe the rebrand will be good in the long run, and as more curious investors realize that Nano is RaiBlocks, it should see growth in 2018.

In other recent news, XRB released an iOS mobile wallet that is performing well in testing. This could be a game changer when combined with XRB’s quick transaction speeds.

Like the title suggests, 2017’s top performing coin is not dead, it is merely a name change. Just remember, RaiBlocks = XRB = Nano.