We need to consider which rivals are likely to halt Ripples progression. By this, we aren’t referring to rival cryptocurrencies, rather, we are referring to rival companies such as Swift, who already provide money transfer solutions. It has to be assumed that Ripple’s grand plan does involve an integration of XRP into their current services, xCurrent, xVia and xRapid. As the moment, a wealth of companies are testing these services to assist with their own money transfer options. Services like Swift however, at the moment are far more mainstream, despite banks like Santander jumping on board with Ripple . If Ripple can however provide some real, solid competition and prove itself against the likes of swift, XRP will see real benefits. Therefore, it is safe to say that for now, Ripple should be focusing on non-cryptocurrency rivals, with Bitcoin and Ethereum unlikely to focus on cross border payments any time soon. So, why will this encourage XRP to increase in value? Well, the theory is, once Ripples services become more adopted and companies move from testing towards actual implementation, eventually, XRP could be introduced to these as a viable currency option. In turn, this will of course re-encourage XRP investment and movement and thus, the price would increase massively. Imagine if Santander started allowing their customers to send money at a discounted rate, in XRP, the price would Skyrocket. How does XRP stand at the moment? At the time of writing, XRP is valued at $0.665, its down 5.30% at the moment, however, this is down to an overall market decline, something that really has taken the life out of the major currencies this week. Overall, a Ripple takeover of services like Swift may seem a while off yet, indeed it is, but should Ripple Labs start moving in this direction, we can very well expect to see XRP hit $5.00 and potentially beyond. Growth in this sector would also see XRP’s market cap and trading volume shoot up too, something which will hopefully provide Ripple with a very prosperous future.