Q1 2019 XRP Markets Report

Ripple sold $169.42 million of XRP in Q1 2019

• Ripple’s Q1 sales accounted for 0.32 percent of global XRP volume

• Three billion XRP were released out of cryptographic escrow, 2.30 billion returned to escrow

• XRP is now listed on approximately 120 exchanges worldwide

RIPPLE’S XRP SALES

In Q1 2019, Ripple sold $61.93 million of XRP in institutional direct sales and $107.49 million of XRP in programmatic sales. In total, the company sold $169.42 million of XRP in Q1.

Q1 ESCROW ACTIVITY

In Q1 2019, three billion XRP were again released out of escrow (one billion each month). Additionally, 2.30 billion XRP were returned and put into new escrow contracts. The remaining 700 million XRP not returned to escrow are being used in a variety of ways to help support the XRP ecosystem.

XPRING
Q1 saw significant developments from key companies focused on projects building and utilizing XRP, the XRP Ledger and ILP. These companies, which Xpring invested in and supports, include:

• XRPL Labs develops applications for the XRP ledger

• Kava is the first Interledger solutions provider bringing interoperability of Interledger technology to blockchains, wallets and exchanges

• Forte provides tools for game developers to integrate blockchain technology into new and existing games

• Bolt Labs builds payment channel implementations using zero-knowledge proofs, blind signatures and commitments

XRP COMMENTARY

Volatility, Volume and Correlation
XRP’s volatility of daily returns over the quarter was 2.90 percent, marking Q1 the second lowest volatility quarter since Q4 2013. Rolling volatility of 30-day returns steadily declined throughout the quarter such that XRP volatility of 30-day returns fell to its lowest levels since Q3 2016.

While the price of XRP decreased, the average XRP daily volume was $595.28 million which is on par with XRP daily volume from Q4 2018. In addition, XRP’s correlation with other top digital assets remained consistently high throughout the quarter.

New Exchanges
This quarter, 19 new exchanges listed XRP bringing the total number to approximately 120 exchanges worldwide.

RippleNet
At the start of the quarter, Ripple announced RippleNet surpassed more than 200 customers worldwide, with the addition of 13 new financial institutions that signed up for the company’s payment network. These companies include Euro Exim Bank, SendFriend, JNFX, FTCS, Ahli Bank of Kuwait, Transpaygo, BFC Bahrain, ConnectPay, GMT, WorldCom Finance, Olympia Trust Company, Pontual/USEND and Rendimento.

Of those customers, JNFX, SendFriend, Transpaygo, FTCS and Euro Exim Bank announced that they will leverage XRP to source liquidity on-demand.

MARKET COMMENTARY

Reset during Crypto Winter
The industry has referred to the past several months as the “crypto winter” after a year-long bear market. During this time, blockchain and crypto companies, especially those without a clear use case or utility, were forced to shift business and product goals and/or abandon their projects.

Overall, this is positive for the industry as legitimate businesses gain traction and scams and non-businesses fall by the wayside.

Market Validation from Legacy Players
Several legacy players and technology companies announced new products and blockchain solutions to fix payments, which is a strong validation for the market. Companies are planning to use decentralized blockchain technology and stablecoins to improve payments, while others released new features to fix existing infrastructure and address customer pain points.

In addition, various payment providers are trying to build workarounds to legacy infrastructure to deliver faster, lower cost, more reliable cross-border payments.

The Rise of Digital Banks and Mobile Wallets
Digital banks continue to gain traction and are going after traditional banks’ market share. Predominantly in the UK, these contender banks are looking to expand to new geographies and services, including cross-border payments.

Also, there is a growing trend of mobile wallets acquiring cryptocurrency, which increases accessibility to a broader audience. This will likely help drive digital asset adoption, volume, liquidity and credibility.

Here are a few highlights:

Institutional Interest in Q1

Crypto exchanges launch OTC desks

• Binance follows major crypto exchanges with launch of OTC trading desk

Institutional exchanges continue to make moves

• Fidelity’s Digital Asset Platform Goes Live With Select Clients

• Eurex, derivatives exchange operative by Deutsche Börse, launching crypto derivatives exchanges, starting with BTC, ETH, XRP

Regulatory Activity in Q1

International

• The Basel Committee, which sets the global standard for bank regulation, released its first guidance on the steps banks should take when they acquire digital assets.

Americas and Europe

• Mexico’s central bank released new rules for digital asset exchanges and financial institutions that hold digital assets.

• The European Banking Authority and European Securities and Markets Authority proposed digital asset frameworks and called for them to be adopted as uniform regulation across Europe.

APAC

• Thai Finance Ministry awarded licenses to four digital asset firms, while the Thai Stock Exchange applied for a trading license to capture digital assets as a growing investment category.

• Malaysia’s Securities Commission expects to launch a regulatory framework to guide the requirements for ICO issuance and digital asset trading.

Middle East and Africa

• South African financial regulatory organization released consultation paper to drive clarity on digital asset regulation.

• Bahrain is the first country in the Middle East to implement a comprehensive framework to regulate digital assets with the publishing of final rules by the central bank.

Please find the Q4 2018 XRP Markets Report here.
Note: All data in this report was pulled from coinmarketcap.com