Responding to critics, Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, has drawn attention to XRP’s impressive gains during the first few weeks of this year. Although the platform is clearly having a good run, with a year-to-date increase of almost 50%, its growth may be the product of a larger market recovery.
GARLINGHOUSE RESPONDS TO DISAPPOINTING PREDICTION
Garlinghouse made his comment in a tweet after Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz predicted that Ripple would underperform in 2020.
Ahem… IS THIS THING ON… can I get a fact check on aisle CoinDesk?
XRP has outperformed BTC and the broader crypto market in 2020. XRP is up 44% (19.1 to 27.5) vs BTC's 33% (7,100 to 9,500) so far this year.#factsmatter https://t.co/KAdFqD93t1
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) February 5, 2020
Novogratz made this statement at a financial conference in Florida last week. He also expressed concern over Ripple Labs’ large XRP holdings, and noted that its policy of selling a portion every month should not sit well with investors.
The Ripple CEO later criticized Novogratz’s ability to predict the crypto market, noting that he had incorrectly predicted Bitcoin would reach USD $20,000 by the end of 2019.
Garlinghouse is better known for praising Ripple than responding to critics. He is the platform’s most vocal cheerleader, routinely claiming that it will one day become a major force in the global economy. Clearly, however, Novogratz’s comments touched a nerve.
It is worth noting that Novogratz is anything but a critic of Ripple or the XRP token. In fact, his investment bank holds a sizable share of stock in Ripple Labs, with a value of USD $27.6. It acquired most of this stock last year, according to company filings.
1. GLXY is a big investor in Ripple Labs. I would like to see them do well. @bgarlinghouse has done a great job as ceo. I commented the XRP tokens underperformed $btc last year because Ripple owns a lot of them. I have been almost solely long $btc for the past 15 months.
— Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) February 6, 2020
RIPPLE’S RECOVERY TIED TO OVERALL MARKET GROWTH
XRP’s rebound is impressive, yet most major platforms are up significantly since the beginning of the year. In fact, all signs point to an impending bull market for the entire crypto space. Thus, Garlinghouse’s boast does not point to anything uniquely special about his platform.
Investors are still quite pleased to see the price moving up after several months of decline.
Of greater significance is XRP’s ability to hold on to the number three spot in terms of market value. It is also noteworthy that the Ripple ecosystem is one of the very few in the blockchain space to enjoy real adoption by major institutions as well as consistent praise from the legacy financial establishment.
Over two hundred banks are now in the Ripple user network.
Moving forward, Ripple’s real test will be whether or not it can maintain consistent growth in both value and adoption. There are many competitors now entering the fiat transfer space that Ripple hopes to capture. These come from crypto platforms as well as from banks and legacy financial institutions.
Where do you think XRP is headed over the rest of this year? Add your thoughts below!
Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @novogratz