Ripple News Update

Although volatility rocked the cryptocurrency market on Saturday and Sunday, Ripple prices ended the weekend higher than expected. Even better, the cryptocurrency market cap topped $500.0 billion for the first time in weeks.

This is good news.

It means that investor sentiment is much more durable than it was in early January. After all, regulators are circling the wagons around virtual currencies—under the guise of consumer protection—yet investors remain confident in the industry’s outlook.

Just read what leading politicians had to say about cryptos:




“There’s no question about the fact that there is a need for a regulatory framework,” said Republican Senator Mike Rounds, a Senate Banking Committee member.

“A lot of people don’t realize there’s nothing backing these virtual currencies,” said Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

“We have to look carefully at all of the cryptocurrencies and make sure individuals don’t get taken advantage of,” said Representative Tom MacArthur.

“The goal here is to have rules of the road that protect consumers without trying to squash innovation,” said Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.

(Source: “Congress sets sights on federal cryptocurrency rules,” Reuters, February 19, 2018.)

Ripple (XRP) Price Chart

Regardless of these comments, investors remained relatively bullish on XRP. This leads me to believe that investors are starting to forget January’s price crash.

At that time, cryptocurrency prices were vulnerable to anything, especially the threat of tighter regulation. South Korea was ground zero. All it took was a touch of uncertainty—the Justice minister promising a trading ban—to start an avalanche.

More than $400.0 billion was wiped out in less than one month.

Since then, investors have rushed back into digital assets, raising the XRP to USD exchange rate by two percent over the course of the last 24 hours. XRP prices are currently sitting at around $1.15.

Analyst Take

Ripple prices appear to have found a floor. Of course, volatility continues to rear its ugly head, but at least the price isn’t in free fall anymore.

We believe this is an opportune moment for XRP investors because the company’s consistent delivery of new partnership agreements is perfectly juxtaposed with its price slump. However, we don’t expect XRP to stay on sale forever.

In fact, we maintain our $10.00 Ripple price prediction for 2018.