According to the fourth quarter (2018) report published by Ripple
According to the fourth quarter (2018) report published by Ripple on 24th January, 2019, Ripple managed to sell XRP cryptocurrencies worth around $535.56 million. In the fourth quarter (Q4) alone, the sales led to the whopping figure of $129.03 million. Therefore, in the last quarter of 2018, Ripple managed to sell nearly 0.24 per cent of its total global token volume.
The insights section of the Ripple website explains how second largest cryptocurrency (in terms of market cap) managed to ramp up such a high valuation. The report notes:
“In Q4 2018, Ripple sold $88.88 million worth of XRP, programmatically. This represented 0.16 percent, or 16.2 basis points of the total XRP volume traded globally in the fourth quarter.”
Accounting, for the remaining amount, Ripple writes:
“In addition, XRP II, LLC — a Ripple subsidiary that is a registered and licensed money service business (MSB) — sold $40.15 million worth of XRP in institutional direct sales.”
With regards to the total, the report reads as follows:
“In total, the company sold $129.03 million worth of XRP in Q4. In 2018 overall, the company sold $535.56 million worth of XRP.”
With regard to the average daily volume of XRP, the report notes:
“Average daily XRP volume ($585.7M) was the highest since Q1 2018”
The report points out the myriad successes the cryptocurrency cum payment protocol has enjoyed over the last year, as it got listed in over a hundred of the best cryptocurrency exchanges out there.
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The report also had a section dealing with market commentary where the firm focused on the rise of stablecoins, as these types of cryptocurrencies had made more and more headlines over the year. However, Ripple warned:
“While stablecoins are an interesting technology and worth exploring, the industry should be cautious about coins backed by a single entity, as compared to decentralized digital assets. Stablecoins can introduce counterparty risk and trust back into the system and have the potential to undermine the entire thesis behind blockchains and digital assets.”
With regard to the maturation of the crypto market and ICO scams also, Ripple had a lot to say. To quote an excerpt:
“The market continued to mature in Q4. First, we saw an increase in enforcement actions against questionable crypto projects, including ICOs. By weeding out these projects, the market will naturally contract as legitimate projects thrive and experiments or scams disappear.”
Even as Ripple has started 2019 on a good note, partnering up with Beijing’s Tsinghua University to launch a blockchain scholarship, there have been worrying developments as well. In fact, just a day ago a shocking allegation by research firm Messari has raised questions if Ripple’s market cap is fake and overvalued.
Will Ripple manage a better performance than its 2018 run this year? Only time will tell.