By Guest Author – Sam Reads, Birmingham, UK
Ripple has had a successful week with its price hitting a new all-time high of $3.86 on Thursday. It later fell to new week low after Coinbase nixed rumors of a possible addition to its list of assets. This increase was mainly fueled by an increase in demand from the Asian market and speculation of a possible listing on Coinbase. Reports had earlier emerged of a possible listing and Amstrong the CEO of COInbase recently posted a poll on Twitter on what cryptocurrency should be added next. To many, this was an unofficial announcement of a listing on Coinbase.
Coinbase is the most popular crypto-exchange platform with over 10 million users and has a trading volume of over $50B. A listing on Coinbase would push the value of Ripple to an unexpected high. The Asian demand of ripple could have been matched in the US and Europe, as it was the case of Bitcoin Cash during its launch on the exchange. They had to halt trading for 2-hours to investigate a possible case of insider trading.
However, this was very unlikely given the CEO stand on the digital currency and other altcoins in 2015. He tweeted that Ripple, stellar and other altcoins were a distraction, stating the focus should be on Bitcoin.
Coinbase published a blog post on Thursday clarifying on its stand on the addition of an asset. It stated that it had not made a decision to add any additional assets to either GDAX or Coinbase and any statement to the contrary is untrue and not authorized by the company. The DAF is a framework used by Coinbase to determine if a digital asset meets its requirements to qualify for a listing. This may just be a diversion or the Final decision, but Ripple has already taken a hit.
The fall in price on Friday was also a result of value gains by Bitcoin. It increased from a staggering price of around $14600 to a new high of $16,962. That’s an 11% increase in investors gaining confidence in the currency future. If the trend continues Ripple might lose its position as the second largest cryptocurrency to Ethereum after it managed to hit the $1000 value mark. In the long run, Ripple might not survive the competition, but the crypto market is so volatile to make any conclusions.
