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Bitcoin had a wonderful run in 2017 which attracted serious hype and countless headlines. The cryptocurrency’s price soared to over $20,000 turning early investors into millionaires.

As the year came to a close there was a new player on the cryptocurrency field, Ripple. This coin shook investors as it capped an annual rise of more 36,000 per cent, doubling in price in the last week of December.

This rise came about as a result of reports that Ripple’s payments system was being tested with a lot of global banks, with Korean and Japanese credit card companies confirming they would run with the technology.

At the time of writing, one Ripple coin is worth around $2.20 on cryptocurrency exchanges. Though this is way less compared to Bitcoin’s high valuation of around $14,000 per coin, Ripple has actually increased from as little as $0.006 twelve months ago.

That and the fact that the total value of its supply makes it the second most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalisation surpassing Ethereum and Litecoin.

So why Ripple you would ask? Well let us share some facts. Launched in 2012, Ripple had a market cap of $140 billion, next to the Bitcoin’s. It is used by companies such as UBS and Santander as payment technology. In November 2017, American Express Co also launched an instant blockchain-based payment system using Ripple.

Ripple allows clients to integrate it into their own systems which then allows their customers to use it. Recently the National Bank of Abu Dhabi started to use the technology for some of its transactions, specifically for cross-border transactions. It, therefore, allows its customers to transfer funds in real time and instantly.

Ripple continues to invest in the network and improve, this combined with a growing presence and partnerships with global firms makes it a candidate to be the next big disruptor.

About 40% of banks in Japan will be in some way connected to Ripple technology and RBS and BAML, amongst others will use Ripple to underlie the cross-border payment services for retail and commercial customers in 2018.

As the network grows and Ripple begins to make a name for itself, it may well present a buying opportunity. Ripple has some way to go to match the exposure of Bitcoin with only five years under its belt compared to Bitcoin’s 8 years, but if it follows in the footsteps of Bitcoin, its value has the potential to surge further.

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