After dropping from a key resistance level the beginning of the week, Ripple’s XRP was mostly indecisive on Thursday. XRP/USD and XRP/EUR tested above the upper band of the daily Ichimoku cloud. However, they ended the day inside the cloud, as they both formed a spinning top candlestick pattern.
The pivot point for XRP/USD is set at the 23% Fibonacci retracement level of 0.20. Meanwhile, support falls approximately on 0.15.
XRP vs. BTC
XRP/BTC reached the key support level of 0.000036 on Thursday as it remained below the daily Ichimoku cloud. A break below this level could open doors for further drops towards the lows of 0.000004. This level was last seen in March 2017, before XRP started a rapid increase in value against Bitcoin. Unfortunately, that rapid growth only lasted for two months.
Fundamental Points
The Good:
1) Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has released new open-source software that utilizes technology developed by Ripple.The software is called Mojaloop, building off the Swahili word “moja,” which means “one”. Other fintech developers besides Ripple include Dwolla, ModusBox, Crosslake Technologies, and Software Group.
Mojaloop is designed to provide a reference model for payment interoperability between banks and other providers across a country’s economy. It is available now, free-of-cost, for software developers to adapt and banks, financial service providers and companies to implement, according to a statement released by the Gates Foundation.
2) Former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke appeared bullish on the blockchain industry as he spoke at Ripple’s Swell conference in Toronto Monday. He called out Ripple by name, saying that he’s read about the company’s work and thinks that any effort in payments to reduce cost, improve accuracy, speed, and reliability and “bring the global economy closer together” is a good thing.
The Not So Good:
1) The much-anticipated fintech conference, Ripple’s Swell, came and went without the major announcement that XRP investors were hoping for.
XRP’s price growth since last month partly had to do with the news that Ripple previewed a major announcement. It quickly became clear that the announcement was conference-related. But the investors let their imaginations run wild as the firm slowly revealed details over the ensuing days. That’s how speculators began driving up demand for the XRP.
With the Swell conference ending with no major announcements, the “buy the rumor, sell the news” investors dumped the cryptocurrency versus its major counterparts.
2) A manager of Ripple cryptocurrency exchange arrested for a scam in Japan. Yuki Takenaka, the 31-year-old founder and head of a company operating the Ripple exchange, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly swindling ¥1.4 million ($12,470) from a depositor, according to the Japan Times.
While the heat around cryptocurrencies is spreading internationally, Ripple may need to come up with a different solution to increase the value of XRP.
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