Ripple is now the third cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, breathing…[down] the neck of Ethereum. Bitcoin is the clear leader, despite falling over 25% from the peak. Why is Ripple going strong? Here are three reasons that propelled Ripple to 3rd place:

1. Bank adoption: A consortium of banks in Japan has decided to dive into the Ripple technology in order to facilitate transactions. Tokyo-based SBI Ripple Asia consists of around 60 institutions. The tests are due to happen soon, in Q1 2018. This has been the driver of XRP for quite a few days.
2. CNBC exposure: Brad Garlinghouse, the Chief Executive Officer of Ripple, went on CNBC to explain the technology and highlighted a key advantage: transactions are completed after around 3 seconds. Among Ripple clients are several global banks such as UBS, Unicredit, BBVA, Santander, and Standard Chartered.
3. Troubles with bitcoin: Apart from the perma-talk about a bitcoin bubble and the growing scrutiny by regulators (such as in South Korea), transactions and fees have become cumbersome. We mentioned Emil Oldenburg, the person behind bitcoin.com, saying that BTC has become ?unusable?. Ripple enjoys this ?schadenfreude? and stands out with its fast transactions.

All in all, Ripple finds reasons to rise while other applications of the blockchain do not, or even find renewed trouble. Will Ripple keep roaring and rallying?

Here is roller-coaster Ripple in the past week, using a snapshot chart from ConMarketCap.

(Click on image to enlarge)

• XRP's year-to-date gains at around 40,000%; dwarfing Bitcoin's 2017 return. XRP began the year trading at less than a penny, with most of the gains coming in the last three weeks. On Dec. 11, XRP was trading at 25 cents. By comparison,
• Bitcoin is up about 1,300%,
• and Ethereum is up 9,000%.

What prompted the exponential move in Ripple?

1. One of the primary explanations focuses on the digital currency's possible acceptance: indeed, for XRP, the bulk of the gains came after signs that Ripple has shown more progress in signing up banks to its closed-loop network, called RippleNet. As the WSJ reported, earlier this month, the currency got a boost after a consortium of Japanese banks signed up to test its network. The company has more than 100 banks, mostly outside the U.S., signed onto its platform. It has not disclosed amounts, but has said that some of those banks have been using it in a live environment to move money, rather than just testing it as a concept.
2. Another, just as likely explanation, is that the "low" single-dollar price of one XRP has attracted South Korea's "Bitcoin Zombies" who unable to determine any valuation, are simply buying because it appears "cheap" and has a lot of upward momentum.

About Ripple

Unlike the rest of the decentralized crypto space, XRP is different from other digital currencies in that its development is being guided and controlled by a single, for-profit company, which has alienated many of the altcoin purists who believe that Ripple is a Trojan Horse attempt by commercial banks to dominate the space.

Ripple the company launched its currency in 2012, as part of a plan to use the concepts behind bitcoin to build a cross-border, interbank payments and settlement network…

When Ripple launched the network in 2012, it created 99 billion XRP. About 38 billion have been distributed; the company holds with rest, with plans to release them publicly over time. This implies that the value of Ripple, the company, is roughly $150 billion, the same as GE and more than IBM, and 3M, as a result of the overnight surge and yes, with the surge in the currency's value, Ripple's XRP is currently worth more than $100 billion, though the company would likely have a hard time monetizing that amount quickly.

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