At the time of writing, it looks as if Ripple XRP is starting to take a bigger hit than its nearby neighbours Bitcoin and Ethereum. With Bitcoin down 2.5% and Ethereum down 2.5% Ripple is riding a slightly steeper gradient down at just over 4.5%, coming in at a value of $0.47. This comes after recent calls yesterday from a Business Director within Ripple who stated that by the 1of May this year, they expect Ripple to be hitting $1.50. Furthermore, by the end of the year, they expect it to be flying up to $3. I don’t claim to be a mathematical genius, but I can see that on its current trajectory, a 4.5% decline is not the direction in which Ripple needs to be going, if it is due to hit it’s target of $1.50 by May. Obviously, the majority of the big currencies are on declines at the moment, but it is concerning that in Ripples case, it’s decline is almost twice as steep as that of its rivals. In the few minutes it’s taken me to write this, Ripple has stooped even lower to a 4.65% decline with Bitcoin going in the opposite direction by 0.01%. This serves at most as an example at which the markets can change, but also as an indicator for how long it takes me to write articles. We need to have a look at why Ripple seems to be taking a bit of a harder hit at the moment. Many people are referring to the recent decisions made in India as having a partial involvement in sending the markets downwards and perhaps the nature of Ripple, being designed for cross border payments, means that India is no longer on its radar has some contribution to this. We know there are numerous reasons for the decline in all market values at the moment, Ripple will take the hit for the more mediated examples as, it is a currency with international implications that will be subject to laws and regulations in the countries it operates within. If countries like India, with huge crypto-savvy populations start blocking the use of cryptocurrencies then the outlook for currencies like Ripple will be far more tarnished than the currencies like Bitcoin whose sole purpose is not the facilitation of easy international payments. To finish on a real example of why I see this, take the pending Western Union and Ripple collaboration. Maybe, no longer having a customer base in India would cause Western Union to reconsider their angle? Especially considering how big the potential customer base would have been? If indeed a partnership is taking place that is, that’s the news we are all still waiting for after all.