When Bitcoin began crashing from its all-time highs in late 2017, it sent shockwaves across the cryptocurrency industry, helping lead the crypto economy into a spiral of depression.
Ripple was among the worst-hit assets as crypto-demand plunged. The XRP value depreciated more than 90 percent against the US Dollar this year. It was not that Ripple was not making enough efforts to improve the market sentiment. The blockchain remittance company entered partnerships with some of the biggest names in the banking industry, including SBI and American Express. But, the fundamentals were not supporting XRP in the wake of an industry-wide crypto breakdown momentum.
September Brought the Best out of XRP
September was the best month for XRP traders since its last significant upside period in April this year. The Ripple market cap surged at an aggregated 67 percent rate in the wake of strong fundamental factors, including industrial announcements, bottomed-out trend sentiment, FOMO, and whatnot. The same month saw a majority of top coins recording losses. While Bitcoin value and market cap dropped by 8 percent, Ethereum performed even worst by expressing a 22 percent drop in the last 30 days.
Ripple, at the same time, became the best performing crypto asset among those 5,000-plus coins, followed by Bitcoin Diamond and Bitcoin Gold that also impressed with over 33 and 15 percent gains against the US Dollar, respectively. Surprisingly, Ripple’s closest competition Stellar was also among the top coins that witnessed double-digit increases. XLM market cap jumped close to a modest 14 percent.
It is interesting that XRP bull run never turned up anytime before the 18th of this September. The coin value was forming lower lows as it hinted a downside extension from the previous peak in April, as per the price data available on BitFinex crypto exchange. XRP in mid-August had established a bottom range around $0.25. It once again tested the level during the early September trading session, only to consolidate sideways in near-term and forming intraday highs towards $o.35 and $0.37.
xRapid Announcement
The price action started acting volatile just after the 19th of this September when Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the global expansion of RippleNet, an international payment and remittance service. It was not the first time RippleNet updates helped XRP. In October last year, the XRP value has surged 30 percent in a day after Ripple added 100th banking partner to its RippleNet service.
The RippleNet announcement got an additional push from the xRapid system. The system, unlike RippleNet, makes the use of XRP mandatory by allowing participants to swap assets in and out using the token. In short, this means companies using the xRapid system could increase the demand for XRP tokens. Currently, MoneyGram and Western Union are testing the system. Ripple announced on September 17 that it would launch xRapid sometime in October, adding to the massive upside rally in the XRP market later.