Here’s What Really Matters About The Latest Ripple (XRP) News

As part of this analysis on Wednesday, we pointed out why we felt that Ripple (XRP) wouldn’t fall too much farther its then-current pricing.

At the time, the coin was trading in and around $1.80 a piece having crashed from highs of more than $3.20 and sentiment surrounding near-term prospects was considerably weakened. However, we pointed out that a large portion of the price decline was rooted in the exclusion of South Korean exchange pricing in CoinMarketCap’s listing calculations (perhaps accounting for as much as 30% of the dip) and that the only reason XRP had fallen further was that markets misinterpreted this decline as being fundamentally driven.

Then, around 24 hours after we put forward our thesis, Ripple made a major announcement.

The company reported that Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ: MGI) would be trialing its payment network, xRapid, and that, in line with this pilot program, would adopt XRP as a settlement currency tied into the network.

XRP Daily Chart

Many of the major news outlets have covered the development so we won’t go into too much detail as to exactly what the agreement involves here.

What we will do, however, is point out something that much of the coverage surrounding this news is ignoring – something that dramatically strengthens a long-term bull thesis for XRP in this market.

What are we talking about?

Well, to a degree, we’ve already mentioned it.

Moneygram is going to be using XRP as the exchange asset that integrates with the network. The importance of this decision cannot be understated. If you were to ask anybody with a knowledge of the space and, in particular, the Ripple protocol, they would tell you that the primary bearish argument for long-term XRP weakness is based around the failure of financial institutions and big banks adopting XRP specifically as their exchange asset of choice to support the xRapid network.

In other words, while many of the big names that Ripple is rumored to already be working with (Citi, BoA, etc.), might integrate the company’s network into its operations, this doesn’t necessarily mean said institutions will also adopt XRP. If this is the case, the only real use case for XRP would be to cover tiny transaction fees and, in turn, there wouldn’t be too much by way of upside support on long-term price gains.

Basically, the bearish argument is that the success of the xRapid network and the XRP cryptocurrency are uncoupled from one another.

What the latest MoneyGram decision has shown, however, is that these companies are leaning towards adopting both xRapid and XRP, given that the two technologies are designed to work seamlessly within one another and, in turn, that this is advantageous (from a whole host of different perspectives) as far as streamlined integration is concerned.

This move has voided the primary bearish argument for long-term XRP valuation and, in turn, should serve to provide a substantial support level from which Ripple and XRP can appreciate further as 2018 matures and the company’s ongoing pilot programs move from test to commercial execution.

Of course, there is still some way to go.

As mentioned, many of the major partnerships are still in the pilot phase and there is no confirmation that these will filter through to commercial deals. Additionally, while MoneyGram has decided to adopt XRP, some of the major financial institutions currently testing out product may opt to develop their own cryptocurrency in place of XRP adoption.

With that said, however, this development at least shows some willingness to take the whole package (something that Ripple has been saying it thinks will happen all along) and it’s a major step forward for both the company and XRP holders.

We’ll be watching the pilots for any news that supports our long-term bullish bias.

We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest on XRP, sign up below!

Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.

Image courtesy of Ripple