Ripple to OVERTAKE bitcoin? Ripple rises as other main cryptocurrencies fall
SOUTH Korean regulators discussing implementing tighter regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies hurt the value of most major blockchain currencies, except for ripple.
The digital currency Ripple explained
Ripple, also known as XRP, is the third largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalisation – which refers to a company’s outstanding shares.
The cyber-currency currently has a market capitalisation of $67.3billion.
Ripple rose by 9.4 percent when all other major players dropped.
And this year has seen ripple rise from 0.6 cents per coin to $1.70 per coin at the end of it.
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The cryptocurrency has increased by $0.25 this month alone.
One big factor that helped boost ripple was on the same day the Japan Bank Consortium, a coalition of 61 Japanese financial institutions launched a new cross border payment trial with two of South Korea’s largest banks. This was organised by SBI Ripple Asia.
SBI Ripple Asia is an Asia-Pacific partnership of ripple and SBI Holdings and was formed in 2016.
SBI Ripple Asia said it has entered into partnership agreement with some of the leading Japanese credit card companies, including JCB, Sumitomo Mitsui Card and Credit Saison.
A spokesman for South Korea's Office for Government Policy Coordination commenting on the proposed tighter regulations: “The government had warned several times that virtual coins cannot play a role as actual currency and could result in high losses due to excessive volatility.”
Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin all fell by at least 5 percent or more within minutes of the South Korea story going live.
After Japan and the US, South Korea is the world’s third-largest market in bitcoin trading. Roughly the country has two million virtual currency investors equating to roughly one in every 25 citizens.
South Korea in an attempt to stifle cryptocurrency trading will ban opening of anonymous cryptocurrency accounts, stop banks from settling bitcoin exchange trades between parties that are unidentified, as well as create new laws to allow regulators to close virtual coin exchanges if necessary.
