According to Finder.com, a Business Director from Ripple XRP has today been quoted saying that he expects the value of XRP to reach $1.50 by the 1of May this year. This is quite a bold claim, considering it would require a potential jump of around 173% to reach this, at the moment this does look moderately unlikely considering the state of the markets, but you never know. Obviously, this isn’t really big news, an external expert discussing a Ripple price jump may have some authority, but a Business Director from Ripple, Kunal Patel saying this, is sort of like a car salesperson selling a car, why would they be honest if it could hamper their chance of selling? Moreover, Patel has also been quoted stating that the company are preparing for a Bull Run towards the end of 2018, projecting that the price of Ripple may climb back to $3, reaching the glory days with 445% increase. Okay, so yes, of course Patel would say that, he works for them, but we do know that media hype is one of the things that does lead the cryptocurrency markets. So, in saying this, perhaps Patel is wanting to kick up a bit of a storm. At the very least, Patel looks to be giving back some hope to investors. More talks of MoneyGram and Western Union are brushing the headlines today which does reinforce Patel’s notion, admittedly though I need to see these partnerships go through because I see them influencing the price of Ripple. When/if they do go through, the effect will in theory be astronomical. So, what should we take from this? At the very least, know that the Ripple management team still have high hopes for the currency and they are expecting things to take shape sooner rather than later. Overall, the $1.50 target for the 1of May does seem a little out of reach at the moment but the $3 New Year target does seem a little more realistic. Yes, it’s a much larger figure but time is a valuable asset , remember that. We will see what happens to Ripple over the next few weeks, and hopefully if Patel is right, we will see some changes on the market pretty soon. The looming Western Union announcement is expected shortly as well as a host of other collaborations and announcements. Lets see what April has in store for May.