Ripple tokens have seen a huge spike in market capitalization over the past day, overtaking Ethereum and following in Bitcoin’s footsteps.
As of the end of May 14, Ripple’s market cap was approximately $ 8,345,000,000. Ripple continued to rise until the next day around $ 11.5 billion, and it continued to rise. This has been happening in a fluctuating fashion over the past few weeks, as Ethereum and the blockchain transfer token vie for supremacy.
Various news sites and other sources suggest that this spike in market capitalization was driven by recent partnerships on the Ripple network. These associations include large banking conglomerates and other banking organizations that choose to work or adopt the Ripple network.
Differences Between Ripple tokens and Bitcoin: Ripple is a “Bank Coin”
Although Ripple is gaining ground in market capitalization, there are distinctions between Ripple tokens and currencies like bitcoin and Ethereum. For example, Ripple enjoyed its market capitalization as a result of obtaining the aforementioned partnerships.
This happened because Ripple is a “bank currency”.
Ripple’s Market Cap Skyrockets, Beyond Ethereum Several commentators pointed out that Ripple is not a decentralized cryptocurrency. It is a centralized bank-to-bank transfer currency. Ripple’s comments from their labs suggested the same when they claimed they could use a global lock feature. “The freeze protocol extension gives gateways the ability to 1) freeze all issued funds globally or 2) freeze funds issued to a particular user. Frozen funds can only be returned to the gateway that issued them. ”
This ability to freeze funds means that Ripple is not a decentralized blockchain protocol, but rather a distributed database that maintains control of the network from a central hub. This is a feature that would be impossible to implement if the coin was based on decentralized algorithms.
However, this does not surprise many, as this fact is not a hidden agenda. Ripple’s website explained the purpose of its technology: its purpose is to be an interbank transfer protocol to facilitate financial interactions between banks.
Conclusion: Ripple’s Market Position
In this regard, Ripple’s market capitalization has increased thanks to their partnerships. These alliances have increased market cap beyond Ethereum, even though Ripple isn’t in the same coin category.
It happened because of its positioning in the market. It happened due to a business alliance. By definition and design, Ripple is not meant to be a cryptocurrency. It is a “database currency” controlled through centralization and economic engineers.