Ripple Prices Could Fall Following South Korean Ban on Anonymous Trading
How Bad Could the South Korean Ban Be for Ripple?
Ripple investors are facing a “hamster in a wheel” situation. Every morning, they wake up to recovering prices, only to watch them crater later in the day. The same process has repeated for days at a stretch. The XRP price seems to be going in circles. It’s going nowhere and investors are getting restless now. I read comments from impatient Ripple investors saying they are placing limit orders and will be getting out of XRP at the next best available opportunity.
If you share the same feelings right now, then this is the best time to tune out all the noise because, at the price it’s selling, Ripple is a steal. Here’s why we believe 2018 may turn out to be Ripple’s best year yet.
Why Ripple Prices Have Been Crashing
Before I turn to our Ripple price prediction 2018, it’s best to put the current state of prices in the right context.
Unlike the other top cryptocurrencies, Ripple prices have been facing a double whammy. On one side, the fear of a South Korean cryptocurrency ban triggered a market-wide crypto sell-off. On the other, new buyers looking to buy it for cheap couldn’t find their way in.
That’s because major exchanges like Binance, Bittrex, and Bitfinex, which primarily drive demand for Ripple outside of South Korea, all temporarily shut down new registrations. (I delved deeper into this problem here.)
While Coinbase stayed open for new users, it was no good for Ripple buyers. Sadly, Coinbase refuses to add Ripple to this day.
As for the rumor of a South Korean ban on crypto trading, it turned to be just that; a rumor. The ban never happened. However, the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) it generated was monstrous, which later culminated in the great cryptocurrency crash of 2018.
We’re now in the third week following the crash and prices are still struggling to recover. What exactly is holding them back now? Well, it’s the South Koreans again.
The South Korean government is not banning crypto trading altogether. It is, however, banning anonymous crypto trading. Beginning next month, South Koreans must link their verified bank accounts with their crypto exchange accounts in order to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
What will it achieve? First, the government can keep track of the flow of funds, possibly for taxation purposes. Secondly, it helps rein in volatility, illicit trading, and money laundering activities. Basically, the government wants to keep an eye on what goes on under its nose.
Is Now a Good Time to Buy XRP?
By ensuring that Koreans link their trading accounts with their bank accounts, South Korea is just making sure that “banks” stay in the equation. So all the traditional cryptocurrencies vying to replace these banks, like the mighty Bitcoin, can no longer bypass these middlemen.
In other words, this ban pushes these traditional cryptos on their back foot. But for cryptocurrencies like Ripple, which are actually made for the banking industry, the ban does little to no harm in the long run.
But the irrational crypto market dominated by short-sighted investors is not able to cotton on to this very simple idea. As soon as the fickle investors feel that their chance at getting rich quickly is slipping out of their hands, they may begin to sell. This is where prices can go topsy-turvy again.
What I’m trying to get at here is that there is a good possibility of another correction in XRP prices in the coming days when the ban goes into effect. Mark your calendars for January 30. It is the day the South Korean government bans anonymous cryptocurrency trading on local crypto exchanges.
In a rational predictable market, I’d expect this news to already be baked into prices, but crypto markets are anything but predictable.
Should you panic? Absolutely not! This could be a great opportunity for investors to hoard up some more XRP. That’s because Ripple prices are approaching a major inflection point.
Ripple Price Prediction: New Partnerships to Send Ripple Prices Soaring
Ripple is signing new partnerships with both hands. New clients are continually being added to its testing platform. Just this month, three major partnerships have been signed.
One of the world’s largest money transfer companies in the world, Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ: MGI), signed up with Ripple earlier this month to test its platform for cross-border transactions. Then, on Wednesday this week, the company added two new partners—IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT) and MercuryFX.
Here’s what the CEO of MercuryFX had to say about Ripple:
“Digital assets promise fast transaction speeds but XRP is far faster than all of them, including bitcoin.”
The Senior VP of IDT Corporation sang Ripple’s praises in these words:
“We’re excited to pilot Ripple’s xRapid solution for on-demand liquidity. We expect that xRapid will enable us to settle more transactions in real-time and at a lower cost.”
(Source: “More Global Payment Providers, IDT and MercuryFX, Sign Up to Use XRP,” Ripple, January 24, 2018.)
Need we say more?
And yet, this positive news failed to move the needle on Ripple prices. As I mentioned earlier, new buyers looking to enter the market are facing roadblocks, while existing buyers are refusing to hold on to their investments amid the ongoing uncertainty emanating from South Korea.
So, once the dust settles, expect a reversal in prices. At that point, the biggest winners will be the investors who stay put through this rough tide. (Find out more about Ripple and its potential here.)
Analyst Take
South Korea is not banning cryptocurrency trading. South Korea is not banning Ripple. Read this once over again.
A South Korean ban on anonymous trading is not the end of the world for Ripple. Ripple’s new partnerships will soon begin to materialize and that’s when another rally in XRP prices may kick in.
Investors who’ll falter through this momentary upheaval may miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to multiply their investments.
The bottom line is that investors must follow the only working tenet of cryptocurrency investing; that is, to hold on to their Ripple for dear life. Like I’ve said countless times before, believe in the power of HODL!
