Ripple is a payment network that focuses on cross-border payments. The native cryptocurrency that runs on this blockchain is XRP.
Ripple Labs is a privately owned fintech company. Adoption for Ripple is therefore double faceted. Retail and institutional investors can trade and invest in the XRP crypto in a similar fashion to Bitcoin and Dogecoin. However, the company also offers banks and fintech companies payment solutions. For instance, the company has inked partnerships with the Central banks of Egypt and Bhutan. XRP will be used to facilitate payments giving further credence to the value of this crypto. The company is also testing a product for use by Central Banks.
At the onset of crypto popularity, XRP was among the top three cryptos by market capitalization. Its use cases and transaction settlement times set it apart from the likes of Bitcoin and Litecoin.
XRP currently sits at sixth on crypto charts.
Tether, BNB, and USD Coin are some of the other cryptos ahead of XRP.
Data from a Finder survey shows that XRP is quite popular in Asia.
In the 27 countries that participated in the survey, 15.5% of the respondents who owned cryptocurrencies, held XRP.
Currently, there exist about 1.3million XRP wallets. The number may appear small, but this is intentional by the Ripple network.
Wallets are created directly on the Ripple network, a feature that Bitcoin and Ethereum lack. This feature helps to eliminate the creation of spam wallets. In comparison, there are about 200M Bitcoin wallets.
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple and competition from other cryptos has since dampened XRP’s uptake.
The coin’s future is indeterminate, factoring the lawsuit results, partnerships, and the Asia market.
Ripple Adoption Statistics by Country
About 15.5% of crypto investors held XRP. This is according to a survey conducted in 27 countries by Finder.
Here are the top countries where crypto investors held XRP.
Ripple Adoption in East Asia
There is notable uptake of XRP in Asia. The coin especially enjoys wide popularity in Japan.
XRP was largely marketed as a remittance solution in this part of the world.
The price of XRP has remained relatively stable partly due to the retail investors in these countries.
Ripple Adoption in the USA and the UK
Out of the investors who owned cryptocurrencies in these countries, 15.1% of them held XRP. Crypto owners in both countries preferred Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin over XRP.
Ownership levels in the US have been greatly affected by the SEC lawsuit against Ripple. However, in the UK, where cryptos are considered a virtual currency and not a security.
Ripple Adoption by Age and Gender
The Finder survey did not give a breakdown of the age and gender of those who owned XRP. However, all crypto ownerships statistics seem to have similar trends when it comes to demographic analysis.
Men dominate ownership by almost a ratio of 3:1. However, data suggests that women are also warming up to crypto as a form of investment.
Crypto adoption is highest between 18-34 years, followed by the 35-55 age group. This is true for most of the countries and cryptos in the survey.
Legal Battle
There has been a legal tussle between the SEC, Ripple, and two of the companies executives.
The case started in December 2020. The contention surrounds a $1.3 billion raised through an unregistered offering of digital assets. The suit also seeks to establish whether XRP is a security token.
After the start of the case, the price of XRP tumbled by as much as $0.5, which was significant at the time.
The price has since recovered but hasn’t managed to climb back to the 2017 levels, where it ranked amongst the top three cryptocurrencies in 2020.
Following the listing of the case, several major crypto exchanges delisted XRP from their platforms. For instance, Binance and Coinbase announced to stop XRP trading from their US platforms. This also negatively influenced XRP investments.
The case has definitely affected the adoption of XRP in the USA, where many investors sold their coins when the lawsuit started.
2022 could see the finalization of the lawsuit and a judgment delivered. Of late, there has been some optimism if the case goes Ripple’s way.
