The XRP price has remained under pressure this month after it emerged that Chris Larsen, Ripple’s co-founder, was funding Kamala Harris for president. Ripple was trading at $0.50, a few points above $0.4870, its lowest level in October
The XRP token has been a top laggard, falling by almost 32% from its highest level this year. It has consistently underperformed most cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, and Justin Sun’s Tron.
Is Ripple a ghost chain?
The XRP price has retreated sharply as concerns about the network’s fundamentals remain. Most analysts believe that Ripple has become a ghost chain over time since not much activity is happening in its network.
For starters, Ripple was started to solve the important challenge of remittances or moving money across the borders. That’s because, for a long time, doing these transactions has been a slow and expensive process.
RippleNet works with banks and other financial services companies to offer a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system that is facilitated by the XRP cryptocurrency.
However, many banks have avoided the network altogether, especially after its legal issues in the United States. Instead, some banks have opted to create their own tokenized solutions to move money internally.
Other companies, like MoneyGram, have incorporated Stellar’s technology to move funds through stablecoins. Users can send the USDC stablecoin and withdraw the funds globally.
Read more: XRP case deadline approaches as SEC prepares January 2025 brief submission
XRP ledger and RLUSD stablecoin
Meanwhile, the XRP Ledger has not seen any major activity by developers. For starters, this is Ripple’s Ethereum rival that facilitates the issuance of various assets.
Ripple hoped that its network would become popular among developers in industries like DeFi and gaming. However, data shows that there are no major developers in the ecosystem, with it having a total value locked (TVL) of less than $5 million. Many newer networks like Base, Blast, and Sui have become bigger than the ledger.
Ripple is now pegging its growth trajectory to the RLUSD stablecoin, which will be a regulated asset in the United States. It will be backed 1:1 to the US dollar.
The challenge, however, is that the RLUSD is in one of the most competitive industries in the crypto sector.
Tether (USDT) has the biggest market share in the industry, with over $120 billion in assets. It is then followed by USD Coin, which has $35 billion in assets.
Past attempts to disrupt the industry have not succeeded. The best example of this is PayPal USD (PYUSD), which was launched in 2023. A year later, it has attracted $533 million in assets and has a tiny market share. Therefore, there are high chances that the RLUSD stablecoin will not be a success.
The XRP price has also underperformed because of the back-and-forth legal issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As such, Chris Larsen, the billionaire Ripple will get favourable treatment under Harris.
On the positive side, the amount of XRP tokens in escrow has dropped to 38.9 billion, down from over 55 billion a few years ago.
Read more: Why Ripple’s $125 million fine won’t go to the SEC, despite XRP lawsuit
XRP price prediction
XRP chart by TradingView
The daily chart explains why the Ripple price could come under more pressure after the election ends. It formed a triple-top pattern at $0.6415. In most periods, this is a highly bearish patterns in the market.
Ripple has also formed a death cross as the 50-day and 200-day Weighted Moving Averages have crossed each other. Therefore, there is a risk that the coin will crash and retest the vital support level at $0.3830, its lowest point on July 5, which is about 24% below the current level.
This view will be confirmed if the XRP price drops below the crucial support level at $0.4870, its lowest point in October. On the flip side, a move above the 50-weighted moving averages at $0.52 will point to more gains in the near term.
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