Is It Worth Investing In Ripple?

Ripple (XRP) is a cryptocurrency with a unique value proposition. It aims to enable quick and cheap transactions, using its native currency XRP. The company RippleNet is a network of institutional payment providers that aims to make lengthy and expensive transactions a thing of the past. The technology also has great scalability, being able to process 1,500 transactions per second.

Ripple has had a turbulent past few years. In 2020, the SEC filed charges against Ripple and two of its founders in regard to XRP. This resulted in many centralized exchanges, such as Coinbase, suspending trading on XRP. However, in July 2023, XRP won the lawsuit and the court declared that XRP is not a security. This led to a huge rally, but XRP is still waiting on exchanges to re-allow trading.

Despite the headwinds, XRP is still extremely popular. It has a lot of advantages over many other cryptocurrency projects, as well as an established community and platform. The Ripple Labs team is dedicated to the project and actively works on making it better.

Ripple has had explosive price increases similar to other currencies, but it's still very cheap in terms of price. At the time of writing, the current price of XRP is $0.53, with a market cap of 55,288,951,055 XRP. XRP has been in a good upward trend, increasing by 6.7% in the last 7 days.

XRP is a good investment if it fits your portfolio. It is a low-risk investment with the potential for high rewards.

XRP's affordability and transaction costs

XRP is currently the sixth most popular cryptocurrency by market cap. It is also extremely affordable, trading at around $0.50. XRP is different from other cryptocurrencies because it was created by a private, for-profit company, Ripple, as a frictionless way to send money globally.

Transaction costs

Transaction costs on the XRP Ledger are designed to protect the network from spam and denial-of-service attacks. Each transaction must destroy a small amount of XRP, with the cost increasing along with the load on the network. The current minimum transaction cost is 0.00001 XRP (10 drops).

Deposit and withdrawal fees for XRP vary depending on the exchange. For example, the exchange OKEx (OKX) has the lowest withdrawal fee of $0.0000000 - 0XRP, while CoinTiger has the highest withdrawal fee of $0.0243923 - 0.05XRP.

Ripple's partnerships and investors

Ripple has a wide range of partnerships and investors, from global financial institutions to tokenization and sustainability partners.

XRPL Infrastructure Partners

Ripple works with the XRPL (XRP Ledger), an open-source, energy-efficient, and decentralized blockchain. They contribute to the advancement of the technology and help developers with the infrastructure, tools, and support needed to build on the XRPL.

Tokenization Partners

Ripple has partnered with experts in tokenization to enable a range of secure and compliant tokenization use cases, including real estate, CBDCs, financial assets, NFTs, stablecoins, and more. The XRP Ledger was the first major blockchain to support the tokenization of real-world assets.

Partners in Sustainability

Ripple is committed to helping drive a low-carbon future in crypto and finance. They collaborate with carbon-focused partners to leverage blockchain technology to create decarbonization platforms and carbon credit marketplaces.

Global Financial Institutions

Ripple has been working with global financial institutions for over 10 years. They enable financial institutions to offer low-cost, real-time, and secure cross-border payments. Their partners include Nium, Tranglo, and the government of Palau.

Other Partners

Ripple also has a range of other partners, including:

• Stasis: A partner in providing stablecoin infrastructure and services via the XRP Ledger.
• Carbon Title: A strategic partner in bringing the benefits of crypto to people in the region.
• Travelex Group: A partner in offering low-cost, real-time, and secure cross-border payments.

The SEC's case against Ripple

In December 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple, a blockchain developer and the creator of the XRP cryptocurrency token, alleging that they had raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering. The SEC claimed that beginning in 2013, Ripple, along with its co-founder Christian Larsen and CEO Bradley Garlinghouse, sold XRP to investors without complying with the registration provisions of federal securities laws. The complaint alleged that the defendants failed to provide adequate disclosures about XRP and Ripple's business operations, depriving potential purchasers of essential information. The SEC sought injunctive relief, disgorgement, and civil penalties.

The outcome of the case was a partial victory for both parties. In July 2023, the court ruled that XRP was not a security when sold to the public on an exchange but was a security when sold to institutional investors. This distinction allowed cryptocurrency exchanges to list XRP for public trading, providing a boost to its value and popularity. However, the SEC continued to pursue remedies from Ripple, arguing that their gains were ill-gotten. The SEC sought hefty fines from Ripple, and in May 2024, they filed their final response, stating that Ripple's arguments did not contradict the evidence against them.

The SEC v. Ripple case had significant implications for the cryptocurrency industry. It set a precedent for how blockchain projects could legally raise funds and compensate their staff and executives. The judgment also clarified the regulatory outlook for cryptocurrency transactions on exchanges, providing assurance that these transactions were not considered securities transactions.

The battle between the SEC and Ripple continued, with the SEC indicating the possibility of an appeal, especially considering the settlement reached by Terraform Labs in a similar case. The outcome of the ongoing litigation will likely influence the future regulatory landscape for the cryptocurrency industry and how companies in this space can operate and interact with investors.

XRP's resilience and accessibility

XRP has showcased bullish trends following its win against the SEC. In July 2023, a court sided with XRP and did not recognise the token as a security, causing the coin's price to increase by 100%. However, the litigation continues, with allegations that Ripple's XRP sales to organisations constitute unregistered securities contracts. The results of the hearings will be known by the end of spring 2024.

Despite the ongoing legal battles, XRP's resilience has been noted by market analysts, who predict a potential price surge, with some even forecasting a staggering 2500% increase. This optimism is also reflected in the numerous bullish predictions for XRP's price in the coming years. For instance, CryptoGround expects a bullish trend for 2025, forecasting that the XRP price will reach $1.02 by the end of the year.

XRP's accessibility is also improving. The XR Association (XRA) has launched a new accessibility-focused site in collaboration with XR Access. This provides a central repository of accessibility solutions for developers working in extended reality (XR) technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR). The site includes code snippets, tutorials, and links to other resources and best practices.

Overall, XRP's resilience and accessibility are definitely factors that investors should consider when deciding whether to invest in Ripple.

XRP's association with Ripple

XRP is the native crypto token of the Ripple network, a money transfer network designed to serve the financial services industry. XRP is used as a medium of exchange for other fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies, with transactions taking place on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a blockchain engineered by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz.

Ripple, the company, is the largest holder of XRP. In 2012, the XRP Ledger architects gifted 80 billion XRP to Ripple so that the company could build use cases around the digital asset. Ripple placed 55 billion XRP into a cryptographically-secured escrow account, with the remaining 20 billion XRP being held by the creators.

The XRP Ledger is an open-source, permissionless and decentralized technology. It is faster and more energy-efficient than the Bitcoin blockchain, with transactions taking 3-5 seconds to settle. The XRPL also has custom tokenization capabilities and is the first decentralised exchange.

XRP is up-and-coming in the crypto world. In 2018, it reached its all-time high of $2.46. However, in 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Ripple with selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP. This resulted in many exchanges delisting XRP. The lawsuit is ongoing, but in July 2024, a federal judge ruled that XRP sales on public crypto exchanges were not investment contracts. This caused XRP to rally, with its price increasing by 75%.

XRP has shown a consistent upward trend with 21 days of gains, indicating a sustained bullish sentiment among investors. It has also shown that it can do well in spite of bad press. XRP remains a very popular cryptocurrency among both retail and institutional investors.

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