XRP, the native cryptocurrency of the Ripple network, has surged by more than 12 percent over the last 24 hours.
Cryptocurrency traders and technical analysts generally expect the positive price movement of XRP to continue in the short-term, given the sheer magnitude of the asset’s recent upward run.
What Has Caused Ripple to Rally?
Throughout the past week, Ripple has seen some progress in regards to the adoption and integration of its blockchain-based liquidity products.
At the Global Islamic Economic Summit 2018, Ripple’s global head of infrastructure Dilip Rao disclosed the company’s plans to expand into the Middle East by establishing an office in Dubai, as CCN reported.
“I think the UAE government saying that 50% of all government transactions will be on distributed ledger technology by 2020 is a fantastic way to encourage innovation, to bring Fintechs to your market and then to then build the capability locally to iterate on those solutions that the Fintech bring to you.”
Rao stated that financial institutions in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman have already started to utilize XRP to process cross-border payments or run pilot tests on the Ripple blockchain network.
“We now have three banks in Saudi Arabia, two in Kuwait… one in Bahrain, one in Oman… a couple in the UAE [United Arab Emirates]… and it really is out fastest growing marketplace,” said Rao.
Progress in the plans of Ripple Labs to expand its reach throughout Asia and encourage the adoption of XRP could have contributed to the short-term rally of the digital asset over the past several days.
But, more importantly, while Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA), and other major cryptocurrencies experienced fairly large gains throughout the week, XRP remained stable in its low price range.
The stability of XRP following a three-fold increase in value in late September could have allowed the asset to initiate a delayed corrective rally.
At the time, billionaire investor Mike Novogratz said that new buyers likely entered the market, possibly due to some of the announcements Ripple made such as the firm’s high profile partnership with Banco Santander to use XRP as the base currency for the banking giant’s new mobile app.
“They’re building a great business. Full disclosure — we’re (Galaxy Digital) a 1% owner in Ripple the company, not the coin… They have a good story. When something jumps 3x, I don’t understand it. [Maybe] it’s a short squeeze to a degree, as I’m sure some people were short, but there were [likely]new buyers.”
Will XRP Continue its Run?
According to Hsaka, a cryptocurrency trader, the strong run of XRP is not necessarily unexpected due to the 20-day consolidation period it experienced.
But, while the momentum of XRP remains strong, the analyst stated that it remains uncertain whether Ripple can extend its run throughout the next 12 to 24 hours.
“Broken past the second target, XRP on a rampage here. I’m not surprised about the strength of this move given the 20 day long consolidation it went through.”
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts from TradingView.
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