The cryptocurrency world found itself in turmoil in start of 2018. We saw the peak of some currencies in
late 2017, the same year brought ICO frenzy, incredible Bitcoin price shifts and immense growth of
Ripple (XRP).

The start of 2018 didn’t bring investors to ‘promised land’, on contrary, the bans, regulations and even
several exchange hack attempts contributed to severe cryptocurrency price drops. Ripple was one of the
ground breaking currencies in 2017, which shot up in price by more than 1000% in the month of
December.

The price of XRP reached its all time high on January 4th with the price of 3.29 USD, then dropping hard
and is now trading around $0.69. XRP could easily be set for another ‘boom’ according to their CEO Brad
Garlinghouse: “We, Ripple, will stay focused on solving that institutional use case, but we would certainly partner with
companies that are looking to use XRP in lots of different ways.”

New use cases for Ripple?

They’re also looking for investment in startups that could develop new uses for Ripple, which could
potentially push crypto values up. The announcement follows the emergence of an XRP payment app
that will allow transactions to take place faster. The software is being developed in partnership with 61
Japanese banks to improve crypto trader experiences in the region.

Takashi Okita, the CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, the firm helping to form a joint venture between Ripple and
the SBI group, declared that the app will allow for payments that are “faster, safer and more efficient”.

xCurrent is Ripple’s enterprise software solution that enables banks to instantly settle cross-border
payments with end-to- end tracking. Banks message each other in real-time to confirm payment details
prior to initiating the transaction and to confirm delivery once it settles.

Fast transaction times and low fees could make XRP more appealing than other cryptocurrencies on the
market. Unlike the highest-valued virtual currency, Ripple is not limited to 21 million coins, instead 100
billion XRP are able to exist, making it greater in supply than Bitcoin by 4700 times. That could mean it
will offer lower volatility long-term, as the price will most probably continue to rise. But when those
prices stabilize, the large coin supply of Ripple will lead to lower volatility.

For now, Ripple has created something that few other cryptocurrencies have managed to this point; a
currency that pre-existing businesses are not only willing to use, but will benefit from doing so. Amazon
and Everything Store are one of the giant costumers to take this step in 2018, as they would like a virtual
currency, that offers fast transaction times without crippling fees.