Ripple News Update

Although Ripple has become something of a media sensation in the last four months, it is still misunderstood by a wide majority of investors.

People don’t understand what makes it so different from Bitcoin, why it is more likely to succeed, or why the XRP price is still undervalued.

(Remember that despite rising 4.04% in the last 24 hours, the XRP to USD exchange is stuck below $1.00, putting it miles away from where it was at the start of January.)




To fix this situation, Ripple (the company) is undertaking a broad PR campaign.

For the most part, this has meant that Brad Garlinghouse gets to stack up a ton of frequent flier miles as he jets from one interview or debate panel to the next. But now Ripple is adding a new piece to its media offense: Cory Johnson.

For those who’ve never heard of him, Johnson is a media veteran with bona fides in both tech and finance. Most recently, he was at Bloomberg, where he created and co-anchored a television show about technology stocks with Emily Chang.

But Johnson’s greatest hits stretch back for decades. He founded the off-beat basketball magazine SLAM, was named an editor at Quincy Jones’ Vibe magazine, and even helped establish the now-famous Street.com with Jim Cramer.

He knows media, in other words.

Now Johnson is working for Ripple. His official title is Chief Market Strategist, which means he’ll coordinate the company’s message to media, regulators, and anyone else who is interested in learning about Ripple or XRP. It is a big job.

I combed through a recent interview Johnson did to learn more about him. Below are some quotes that stood out to me. (Source: “Ripple Welcomes Cory Johnson as Chief Market Strategist,” Ripple, March 9, 2018.)

“I believe in Ripple and I’m convinced that the technology is real and revolutionary.” This is to be expected, but it’s important to note Jonhson’s unequivocal show of support for Ripple. He may think the market is over-hyped, but at least he is committed to the company’s mission. “One man’s regulation is another man’s protection.” This is a play on the whole terrorist/freedom-fighter, trash/treasure conundrum. But it shows that Johnson really understands what sets Ripple apart from its peers—that XRP grows stronger from tighter regulation, while its peers grow constrained and uncompetitive. “It’s time to bring the banking system out of the 1970s.” Ripple has a messaging problem that only simple language can fix. How else do you convince journalists, many of whom lack coding skills, that Bitcoin and Ripple are miles apart? Technical differences are meaningless. You need to illustrate the concepts with simple language, and that’s what Johnson is doing.

Analyst Take

Information is not perfectly distributed in the cryptocurrency space. Many investors look at Ripple prices and nothing else before making their investment decisions, which means they lack the confidence to ride out the rough patches.

What XRP prices need in order to reach our $10.00 Ripple price prediction is a little more substance under these bullish bets. That’s where Johnson comes in.

His campaign to educate investors may spread the gospel of XRP’s effect on banking, which could in turn lead to a more sustainable recovery in the months ahead.