If The New Yorker is right – and culture really does impact how we make financial decisions – should we be paying more attention to Ripple (XRP)?

Let’s take a closer look at the cryptocurrency’s background. It wasn’t so long ago that Ripple was roaring at a $2.73 high on January 4. Yet, the crypto industry’s worst kept secret – that a crypto “winter” has been frosting coin valuations in 2018 – took its toll on the second-best altcoin.

Here, we turn to the screener platform at Coinwatch.com to find the latest crypto market insights. Let’s take a closer look.

On Sunday, the coin trickled to $0.33 with a $12.93 billion market cap. However, media buzz is booming at “very high” levels along and news sentiment rings bullish. After all, Ripple has held tight to its leadership spot in the crypto race- the market’s third leading coin.

It’s fantastic news for XRP enthusiasts that media buzz is positive today- especially after a string of negative publicity. Could it be a prime time to take the crypto gamble?

One of Wall Street’s tech veterans, RBC Capital’s Mark Mahaney (Profile & Recommendations) recently shared some key insights at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Colorado. With over two decades of investment experience under wing, Mahaney has honed some clear tricks of the trade. Here’s how to spot a stock market crusher: “look for the lucky lexicons.”

When is the right time to step into an investment? Mahaney’s bet: "When companies become verbs, nouns, when they become part of the popular vernacular…" According to TipRanks, a platform that tracks the performance record of over 4,800 analysts, Mahaney knows what he’s talking about. Mahaney leads the pack, a top 25 analyst on Wall Street.

Pay attention- culture has a way of impacting the way we make financial decisions. The New Yorker even has pointed out that research shows stock market returns on Friday the Thirteenths take a dip. A cultural superstition goes as far as to impact investors who would rather bet on any other Friday.

So how does this come into play in the cryptocurrency space?

Well, when Madonna is hopping on board, others are soon to follow. Ripple has done a stellar job of piquing interest in the world of celebrity culture. The Madonna factor won’t be ignored- just as human nature causes some investors to get spooked on a Friday the Thirteenth. When the Queen of Pop is enticed by Ripple, this might be the very “lucky lexicon” to which Mahaney calls a smart bet.

Ripple just revealed a new alliance with the A-list entertainer, with a humanitarian twist: Madonna wants to source funds to help Malawian orphans. For her 60th birthday, every dollar raised from public donations in Madonna’s campaign will be matched by Ripple. Madonna declared on her Facebook pledge page that these funds will all go “directly to meals, schools, uniforms and healthcare.”

Ripple’s Senior Vice President of Business Operations Eric van Miltenburg calls it an honor: “We’re honored to be a part of Raising Malawi’s amazing work with some of the world’s most underserved children and are grateful to our investors at Sound Ventures for making the introduction to us and this important cause.”

Madonna is not the only celebrity enticed by Ripple. Ashton Kutcher, popular actor and tech investing enthusiast likewise sees reason to bet on the crypto coin. Kutcher and business partner Guy Oseary just donated $4 million worth in Ripple’s XRP coin to The Ellen Degeneres Wildlife Fund. Nothing generates curious buzz on Wall Street quite like live entertainment. With the live push of a phone button, suddenly Kutcher made a monster transfer to DeGeneres on her show.

"You're always thinking about everyone else," Kutcher said to DeGeneres. "We wanted to show you that people are thinking about you." Ripple has become the new ‘we’re thinking of you’ gift card; and that’s good for the coin. Charitable buzz around Ripple will certainly help ease the frostbite of 2018’s ‘crypto-winter;’ and a year that has seen three lawsuits come to play.

"Ripple is basically a platform to allow people to transfer money from bank account to bank account, person to person, really securely, really simply, really quickly," Kutcher explained on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It’s no small vote of support. After all, Kutcher is the business-savvy celebrity that bet on key empires like Airbnb and Uber. Today, he takes the gamble on Ripple in its early stages of potential.

Even Grammy-nominated rapper Snoop Dogg was the headlining act for an XRP Community Night sponsored by Ripple Labs. Even former U.S. President Bill Clinton is set to be the keynote speaker for Ripple’s Swell conference in San Francisco come October. The international money transfer disrupter coin is riding the waves of popular culture. Consider that Ripple’s XRP has stayed the course as third most valuable coin of the crypto space where other coins have fluctuated in value.

Meanwhile, Ripple has drawn intrigue beyond celebrity culture, striking deals with credit card giant American Express (NYSE:AXP) and banking institutions across the world. See AXP Price Target and Analyst Ratings Detail. Ripple just unlocked a new milestone leap- an add to the Bitcoin Superstore’s accepted cryptocurrency list. In other words, this means XRP adoption can keep spreading its wings. It’s a huge advantage in Ripple’s corner; support that gives access for customers to use XRP to buy in over 200,000 online stores.

First step: dominate pop culture. Next step: widespread, wild-fire global XRP adoption. Keep your eyes on this crypto contender.

The crypto market is constantly changing. We used the screener platform at Coinwatch.com to stay up to date on Ripple’s real-time data.

This article was written by Julie Lamb.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.