At a recent conference, Dan Morgan, an executive with Ripple, says Asia has the “biggest appetite” in terms of demand for XRP.
2018 has been a brutal year for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has fallen from its all-time high of nearly $20,000 back in mid-December 2017 to just over $4,000 today. However, Ripple (XRP) has actually had a pretty sterling year as it continues to make inroads into the worldwide banking system. At a recent conference, Dan Morgan, Head of Regulatory Relations for Europe, offered some opinions on what markets hunger for XRP.
Big in Asia
At the CryptoCompare & MJAC London Blockchain Summit, Dan Morgan was asked about what regions Ripple had the most presence in. He replied:
It’s very early days, but we see the biggest appetite in Asian markets, in terms of demand, so remittance demand, whether it is corridors that are under-served because correspondence banking is too costly… So, we feel that there is demand.
Liquidity, in terms of digital assets, most liquidity we have… is in Asian markets by some distance.
However, Morgan didn’t say everything was perfect in Asia. He discussed the need for clarity when it comes to regulations that impact cryptocurrencies and blockchain. He said:
Again, we see a number of pockets around Asia where they are further ahead that we are here… Thailand, I talked about. Obviously, Japan is another place …
So, you are absolutely right, it is Asia. I wouldn’t want to pin down exact markets… In Thailand, for instance, with that regulation, I think Siam Commercial Bank… is really active now in terms of settlements, digital assets activity.
Ripple Going Strong
XRP has dropped from over $3 at the beginning of the year down to 36 cents today. While the price has been woeful for those who bought it early in the year, Ripple has been making tremendous strides throughout 2018 on a different front.
Ripple’s offerings, such as xRapid, have been doing extremely well. Each month brings a few more banks into their network, such as Banco Santander and Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank. The San Francisco-based company is expanding greatly into the Middle Eastern market and has opened an office in Dubai.
The company’s latest earnings report shows that XRP sales doubled in the third quarter of 2018 in comparison to the previous quarter. The company also flexed their payment remittance might by sending $50 million in just 2 seconds, and all for a mere cost of 30 cents.
XRP is doing so well that it took over the second place spot on the cryptocurrency top ten chart from Ethereum. Currently, XRP has a market cap of $14.5 billion while Ethereum has $11.7 billion.
What do you think about how Ripple is faring this year? Let us know in the comments below.
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