Ripple seems to be the hottest investment in the cryptomarket right now, and for good reason. It rose to a high of $3.3 from $0.22 which is a 15x increase in price. If you had bought $1000 worth of XRP at $0.22 and cashed out at $3.3, you would have a whopping $14,000 return on your investment in a matter of weeks! Most investors would wait ten, twenty years for that kind of return but in case of XRP, all this happened in the month of December without any big news. However, the thing with cryptocurrencies is that most gains happen in a matter of weeks or days which is why there are so many ‘hodlers’ around. Earlier in 2017 there were better news like Ripple Swell Conference, partnership with Bank of America and Santander but they did not have any significant effect. On the very contrary, XRP price kept falling before, during and after the Swell conference which disappointed a lot of XRP investors. All that soon changed though when ‘hodlers’ were rewarded for their patience, in the form of a big 15x rally. Fortunately for those who missed the rally before, the market is once again at a point where big moves can be expected. It is also pertinent to note that previous big movements were not the result of any big news and a lot of positive news came to light even when XRP price was falling with the rest of the market. This led Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse to announce that Ripple will not be announcing each and every partnership separately from now onwards but will declare all developments and partnerships quarterly instead.XRP has the lowest risk/reward ratio in the market right now which means you stand to gain a lot more for taking a comparatively smaller risk. While this does make it one of the most lucrative investments in the market right now, that is not the only reason. XRP is currently at a point where it has the potential to make one of the fastest gains against Bitcoin compared to other cryptocurrencies. This is made even more attractive by expectations of a Coinbase listing or partnerships with the likes of Amazon or Alibaba which could change the whole scenario rapidly. It is important to note that Ripple is one of the very few projects in the cryptocurrency market right now with actual use cases. XRP provides liquidity solutions to financial institutions and has probably the fastest transaction speed of all cryptocurrencies which makes it more stable and immune to big price changes. This could make XRP more attractive to be used as a cryptocurrency for online payments in addition to its use as liquidity provider for cross border payments. Ripple is also more open to regulation compared to other cryptocurrencies which often makes it a subject of criticism among crypto chauvinists. However, governments and financial institutions across the globe increasingly believe that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are here to stay and the best way to ensure a successful transition is through meaningful reform and regulation to the benefit of all.