January 8th was not an easy morning for Ripple holders, as they woke up to the news that their number two coin had suddenly been replaced by Ethereum.These changes happened on CoinMarketCap (a popular go-to cryptocurrency market data website).

However, Ripple was not the only one as other top ten coins showed unpleasant numbers, with Bitcoin registering an 11 percent drop and Bitcoin Cash registering a 20 percent decrease, to name but a few.

Was the Ripple Price Surge a Bubble?

After the growth that Ripple experienced in the last couple of days, the fall was by far the biggest of all the coins on CoinMarketCap’s top ten lists. According to CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency dropped by about 25 percent, at one point trading at a price as low as $2.46. The sudden drop in price and market capital for XRP was posted on CoinDesk, sending Ripple investors a panic.

However the rapid fall in XRP price was not without reason, as CoinMarketCap had actually revised its data by excluding three exchanges in Korea from its averages. In response, CoinDesk (a news website for cryptocurrency) moved to remove the post about Ripple’s sudden fall in price as indicated by a post on Twitter.

Korean Exchanges Removed on CoinMarketCap

According to a tweet by one of Ripple’s original network architects and Chief cryptographer,

Coinmarketcap’s decision to exclude Korean prices from the displayed XRP price made the price appear to drop, likely triggering some panic selling.

He went on to encourage Ripple enthusiasts to look carefully at the data to avoid being mislead. He also mentioned that the new price was a more accurate and meaningful one. In the post he explained why the site moved to remove the prices of the three exchanges. He said that:

However, the move by CoinmMarketCap to take Korean prices out of the equation, saw a drop in the overall market share of Ripple by over $20 billion, registering a price drop from $3.19 to about 2.67.

CoinMarketCap also posted on Twitter that the exclusion of Korean exchanges in its price calculation was as a result of “extreme divergence in price from the rest of the world and limited arbitrage opportunity.”

Al in all, there are still concerns among investors over the validity of Ripple as a legitimate investment, especially since its 900 percent growth over the last month.

Do you think Ripple will continue to stay among the top three cryptocurrencies? Talk to us and let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comment section!