The price of Ripple (XRP) is not expected to change significantly over the course of this coming week. As such, it is expected to stay within the range of $0.30 – $0.40.



The events concerning the cryptocurrency and its parent firm of the same name don’t seem to be driving much traction to result in a sudden bull run for the cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, this seems to have been the case in the past few weeks. And the next few days do not signal any events that may trigger an upwards tick for XRP.



If the price is to go up, then it may do so due to an influence of other cryptocurrencies and their performance. But seeing the current trends in the market, it seems quite unlikely.



Let’s take a look at the most recent events and see what Ripple and XRP have been up to.



Ripple Goes to SXSW

A few personnel from Ripple, the company, attended the popular SXSW conference this past week. Key members of Ripple team, such as David Schwartz, had a chance to talk about some of the concerns and questions in the crypto ecosystem.



At the event “Blockchain Beyond the Hype: The Ripple Effect”, Schwartz discussed one of the real use cases of the blockchain, democratizing the flow of value, while stating that Ripple has its focus on facilitating international payments.



Schwartz also mentioned how Ripple, the company, is focused on creating a better and a radically different version of the SWIFT system. The firm’s goal is to create a base layer of the system, while XRP and its xRapid service would be layered on top of RippleNet. Schwartz also talked about the fact that they have added several banks to their system and how he believes that XRP is not a security.



Is Ripple the Main Driver or the Only Driver of XRP?

Schwartz believes Ripple, the company, to be one component of the XRP ecosystem. But if Ripple, the company, was to go under, would XRP still hold its current value? It is unlikely. The XRP community expects Ripple to be the main driver in growth for XRP.



While Ripple may find success by sticking to its mission of establishing one frictionless experience of sending money globally, XRP investors may get left behind, holding XRPs that continue to go sideways or downward in price.



The bet with XRP is that the customers of Ripple will not look at XRP as one of many options to source liquidity, but as the only option to achieve this objective.



While most financial institutions have yet to to elect to utilize XRP to source liquidity, there does seem to be ripples of interest in xRapid. MercuryFX has confirmed that it has started to use xRapid to send a commercial payment. Other financial institutions and startups that may be using XRP include Euro Exim Bank, ZipRemit, Cuallix, SBI, JNFX, SendFriend, and FCTS.



xPring, Forte, XRPL Labs

Initiatives such as xPring, partnerships such as the one with Forte, and the addition of more entities to the ecosystem with organizations such as XRPL labs may help to drive the adoption and price growth of XRP.

