Ripple (XRP) is perhaps the most divisive digital asset on the market. True believers remain adamant it’s a revolutionary cryptocurrency, while critics posit it barely resembles Bitcoin, so it should be ignored.
Still, XRP is the third most popular digital asset in the world. With a market capitalization (cap) of more than $12.5 billion, it trails behind only Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of total value.
In fact, XRP stands out like a sore thumb in CoinMarketCap’s top six cryptocurrencies, as it’s the only coin that isn’t derived from a permissionless blockchain that leverages Proof-of-Work (aside from popular stablecoin Tether).
Quite an impressive feat for a digital asset that has no miners, and pitches itself almost exclusively as a settlement token for the financial sector.
XRP/USD 2019 Q2 performance recap
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The market for XRP mirrored other major cryptocurrencies in the beginning. It opened Q2 at $0.3105 and almost immediately jumped to $0.3457 within one day.
Following a brief surge to $0.375, XRP spent the rest of April (and half of May) consolidating well below $0.30.
From there, XRP really showed strength. Over about a week, it’s price pumped from below $0.30 to impressively clear $0.45.
Heading into June, the XRP market generally hovered between $0.375 and $0.475. It closed the quarter resiliently, and even managed a short-lived rise to $0.50.
XRP finished Q2 at roughly $0.40, yet to relinquish gains made in the second half of Q2.
XRP/USD 2019 Q3 review
Like much of the cryptocurrency market, XRP had an unfortunately bleak third quarter, with hardly any positive action seen at any point.
Traders would’ve been lucky to make any gains whatsoever. XRP’s price began the quarter at $0.40, but would do nothing but gradually fall to below $0.27.
Those keeping an eye out for a possible bounce could’ve caught a short run from $0.25 to $0.32, starting on September 14.
However, by the last week of the quarter, XRP’s market had dumped to reach below $0.225, only staging a slight recovery to finish September at $0.25.
Biggest news for Ripple in Q3
There wasn’t really an abundance of Ripple-related news in this year’s third quarter. Many headlines that featured XRP pertained to lawsuits over its asset classification.
In particular, Ripple Labs formally requested a US federal court dismiss a class action lawsuit that alleged it illegally sold unregistered securities.
More positively, Ripple Labs’ collaborative initiative Xpring granted 1 billion XRP ($250 million) to Coil, a content monetization platform, to assist it with fostering adoption.
But perhaps the most well-received news was Ripple Labs’ acquisition of a little-known cryptocurrency trading firm from Iceland, Algrim.
The purchase marked Ripple Labs’ official expansion into Iceland, and heralded the addition of six engineers to Ripple’s team. A CoinDesk report mentions they’ll be working on development of its liquidity products.
Right?
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