2019 was not a good year for XRP, as the cryptocurrency was one of the few cryptocurrencies to end the year significantly lower than where it started it, which comes as Bitcoin and most major altcoins have been able to post year-to-date gains of 100% or more.
This bearish price action may extend significantly into 2020, as the cryptocurrency’s close ties to FinTech company Ripple may haunt it as investors grow more critical of the company’s activities surrounding XRP.
Ripple May Stunt XRP’s Growth in 2020 Despite Its Growing Utility
On January 1st of 2019, XRP was trading at $0.36, from which it slightly declined throughout the early months of the year before incurring some momentum that sent it as high as $0.50 in late-June, concurrently with Bitcoin’s rise to highs of $13,800.
From this point, XRP found itself caught within a firm and unwavering downtrend that led it to significantly underperform Bitcoin and other major altcoins, retracing as low as $0.18 before finding some support that has allowed it to climb to just under $0.20.
This bearishness comes as Bitcoin is still trading up just under 100% from where it started the year, and signals that investors believe that XRP is a risky investment.
As for where this belief stems from, there are multiple narratives currently working against XRP, with the primary one being that the token is being used by the company as an alternative fundraising scheme, allowing them to exploit investors to fund their operations.
Mike Dudas, a popular figure within the cryptocurrency community and the founder of The Block, explained in a recent tweet that XRP is an “institution-enabled money grab.”
“@Ripple is the saddest & most egregious example of a dishonest, bad faith cryptocurrency project, given its size and duration. Observing this institution-enabled retail money grab continue unabated day in and day out saddens me. I’m optimistic the pendulum will swing in 2020,” he boldly noted.
https://twitter.com/mdudas/status/1211867452692451330
This narrative has been perpetuated by Ripple’s quarterly token sales, which have been looked upon by many analysts as the root of the intense selling pressure it has experienced this year.
It remains unclear if the utility that Ripple has built for XRP via their multiple XRP-centric products will be enough to help generate more investor interest in the embattled cryptocurrency in 2020.