Ripple’s price surged on Monday over the renewed speculation that the popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is going to add the digital currency in its platform. Coinbase is currently the platform where you can easily buy Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, as well as Litecoin. And most likely, getting Ripple on their list would really mean big news to the investors. This means that they can easily gain access whenever they are buying or selling Ripple.
However, Coinbase later clarified that there is no truth behind the rumors. Coinbase tweeted that the company has “made no decision to add additional assets to either GDAX or Coinbase”. They also mentioned that “any statement to the contrary is untrue and unauthorized by the company”. Because of the rumors, investors rushed towards Ripple that drove the price by 15%.
What Makes Ripple Special?
Ripple has been known as the digital currency that can be used for cross-border payments. Unfortunately though, it is a bit difficult to buy mainly because it is not yet offered on the majority of popular cryptocurrency exchanges. However, despite this challenge, Ripple is now considered as the third largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of more than $41 billion.
The Rumors Are Nothing New
The rumors are not quite new. In fact, a lot of talks have been around for some months already. There are traders who also had an optimistic view of Ripple after there were reports that Brad Garlinghouse; will appear on CNBC’s Fast Money program. And also, Coinbase president Asif Hirji is also scheduled to appear but separate from Garlinghouse. This has also been mentioned in a CoinDesk article which even raised a lot of questions whether or not the digital currency will be able to land on Coinbase.
But Ripple didn’t want to have a comment on the rumor saying that it is their policy to not address rumors or speculations.
Since Coinbase still hasn’t added Ripple, investors could find Ripple on its website. You can also purchase Ripple on some other exchanges including Bitstamp, Kraken, and Gatehub.
Fear of missing out is most likely the reason why investors went towards Ripple. According to Alex Sunnaborg, the founding partner of Tetras Capital, he said that “larger buys in advance of expected news in these markets are then compounded by retail investors buying out of FOMO and trying to chase gains”.
Ripple was able to peak around early January at $3.32. However, it also experienced a rough month and has been trading at around $1.06 on Monday.
Another reason why Ripple has been on the rise is due to the number of South Korean investors. It even had a 1 cent premium on Bithumb, a major cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea. In addition to this, 33% of XRP’s trading volume daily came from South Korea.
There is a lot of interest when it comes to Ripple considering the number of financial firms looking to test the cryptocurrency for its cross-border payment. One of the latest is Fleetcore, a subsidiary of Cambridge Global Payments that are going to test XRP. Interested parties are quite increasing especially after MoneyGram expressed their interest to test Ripple.
