Ripple & XRP: An Uncertain Future in Banking Hangs in the Balance
By CCN: People are feeling notably bullish about Ripple, or XRP, depending on what you’re talking about. The token price is earning bullish calls on Twitter.
.50 cent and beyond incoming $xrp
— Sir Gordon Gekko (@gordongekko369) June 2, 2019
Fifty cents would go a long way to making longtime XRP investors whole and earning handsome returns on long-held investments. It would also limit Ripple Labs’ need to liquidate funds held in escrow that it uses to continue operations. The company has access to a billion XRP every month but rarely needs that much. A massive price increase would limit their need even more.
Ripple: One in a Sea?
Notable banks and insurance companies have chosen to use other platforms to conduct their blockchain operations. Ripple charges on, but will there be a world where it must be Ripple? This is an important existential question. Most blockchains, Ripple included, will retain value in the coming years as the space develops and companies stake their claim.
All things being equal, where will Ripple stand given the following questions:
What if central banks, for example, begin to issue stablecoins?
What if most banks, for example, start using those instead of any privately issued bank coin?
What if most banks develop their own ledger, as JP Morgan did?
Anything is equally possible.
The risk run by the Ripple supporter is that eventually there is no need for Ripple. The preferred vision is quite the opposite: Ripple will be at the basis of all the critical trades. This will create demand and value for it – at some point.
