Chart for XRP/USD (1D) Ripple (XRP) rally is far from over yet. Its independent price moves have sparked some heated debates in the past few weeks. A lot of Ripple (XRP) critics have called its recent price moves “organized pump and dump”. Others have called it “whales playing the small guys”. Whatever the case may be, one thing is obvious and that is investors’ interest in Ripple (XRP). The promise of capturing the trillion dollars foreign exchange market is a very big deal. Many have expressed their concerns over Ripple (XRP)’s unfair allocation of XRP tokens. Similarly Ripple (XRP)’s “centralized” framework has also been criticized. However, if we look at this from the perspective of Ripple (XRP)’s target market, it is a compulsion. For financial institutions to use XRP instead of their nostro accounts, they have to be sure that Ripple is in control. These large financial institutions could resolve the same problem of faster and cheaper transactions with something like Stellar (XLM). However, they are choosing Ripple (XRP) for a reason. Ripple (XRP)’s mission is clear: it wants to empower the banks. Stellar (XLM) on the other hand like most cryptocurrencies, wants to put the banks out of business. In Ripple (XRP), financial institutions have a real partner in the cryptocurrency market. Apart from investors who believe that Ripple (XRP) might eventually capture a portion of the trillion dollars forex market, Ripple (XRP) is also used as a hedge. There is a growing realization among investors that the banks are not going to give up without putting up a fight. This is very reasonable to expect considering that banks have been around for centuries. So, Ripple (XRP) serves as a good hedge incase the banks embrace it to wage a war against cryptocurrencies.Chart for XRP/BTC (1D) Those of us who have been around for long might have noticed by now that this is not the first time Ripple (XRP) has made its own moves. In the past, there have been debates regarding how Ripple (XRP) might decouple from Bitcoin (BTC)’s dominance. It only makes sense because the crypto community has not treated Ripple (XRP) the same as other coins. For instance, Coinbase has not listed Ripple (XRP) so far despite a strong interest. Ripple (XRP) investors were especially outraged when Coinbase listed Ethereum Classic (ETC) instead of Ripple (XRP). It is clear that they have no plans of listing Ripple (XRP) in future either. On another occasion, Coinmarketcap pulled a similar stunt to harm Ripple (XRP). Last year, without an announcement, they delisted a currency pair for Ripple (XRP) which gave investors a false impression that the value of XRP/USD had fallen sharply. Later on, the stunt that Coinmarketcap pulled came to light but it was too late. Many expressed concerns over how unfair this was and that Coinmarketcap should be sued. However, in the absence of regulation, nothing could be done and Coinmarketcap got away with it. The crux of the argument is that the crypto community has not really ‘accepted’ Ripple (XRP) as an equal cryptocurrency. Investor sentiment might have changed but major players and pioneers in the space still see it as a bank coin and a centralized coin. Ripple (XRP) does not have very favorable prospects staying in Bitcoin (BTC)’s shadow but that could change soon if Ripple (XRP) decouples from Bitcoin (BTC).