The Ripple price has surged by nearly 40 percent over the past 24 hours led by the US and South Korean cryptocurrency markets.
For the first time in history, the price of Ripple has surpassed $1, an important milestone for the cryptocurrency and the global Ripple community.
Factors Behind Ripple’s Price Surge
Earlier this month, CCN reported that Ripple briefly overtook Bitcoin Cash to become the third largest cryptocurrency with a $31 billion market cap. However, since then, Bitcoin Cash once again has become the third largest cryptocurrency in the market, obtaining a $62 billion market cap.
While the price of Ripple has not performed as well as Bitcoin Cash, it has surged by more than 50 percent over the past two days. Within merely six days, the market cap of Ripple grew from $31 billion to $40 billion.
Analysts have attributed the recent success and strong price performance of Ripple to the active testing and implementation of Ripple’s blockchain-based solutions by major banks in the US, Japan, and South Korea.
On December 13, the price of Ripple skyrocketed by 71 percent overnight, as 61 Japanese banks and leading South Korean financial institutions agreed to collaborate on implementing the technologies of Ripple to process frictionless international payments.
Japanese mainstream media outlet Nikkei reported that banks in Japan and South Korea have entered the testing of Ripple’s blockchain-based technologies on December 15. The report stated that if the banks conduct a series of successful tests of the Ripple blockchain, South Korean and Japanese banks will deploy the Ripple blockchain technology across its international transaction processing infrastructures.
By early spring 2018, more than 70 Japanese and South Korean banks are set to process borderless transactions between the two regions using the Ripple blockchain network. Given that major banks in both regions settle billions of dollar basis, the participation of over 70 banks in the Ripple ecosystem is expected to substantially increase transaction volume of the Ripple blockchain network and demonstrate its potential at a large commercial scale.
The Japanese and South Korean cryptocurrency markets have remained incredibly optimistic in regards to the partnership between South Korean and Japanese banks, and their collaborative testing of the Ripple blockchain technology.
Consequently, the demand for Ripple in Japan and South Korea, two of the largest cryptocurrency markets in the world, has surged drastically in the short-term.
South Korea is Behind Ripple
On Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency market, Ripple is the second most traded cryptocurrency with a daily trading volume of around $700 million. That is a daily trading volume significantly larger than that of bitcoin on Bithumb.
Ripple is being traded with a huge premium in the South Korean market. At the time of reporting, the global average price of Ripple is $1.06. In South Korea, Ripple is being traded at $1.3, with an 18.4 percent premium.
The global Ripple community is also anticipating an announcement from Ripple chief cryptographer David Schwartz in which he is expected to reveal the name of Ripple’s new partner. Schwartz hinted that the new Ripple partner will come as a “surprise” to the Ripple community, suggesting that Ripple will likely be partnering with a large institution.
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