Crypto Fund Goes Short on XRP and Blames Ripple Sales For the Situation

While Bitcoin has experienced a recent rally in what has been an amazing recovery from the approximately $3,200 it was worth in the first months of the year, altcoins’ fate hasn’t been as kind as that of the world’s leading crypto asset.

Ripple’s XRP is among the digital assets that have suffered the most this year. While it is still the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, it is down 93 percent from its all-time high, per data from Messari’s OnChain FX price tracker. Such is the case with Stellar Lumens, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Tron, and prominent altcoins, as well.

XRP Keeps Struggling

Bitcoin has shown a marked improvement in its price in 2019, but XRP has been left behind. According to Bloomberg, the digital asset has shed 20 percent of its value this year and has lost roughly $3 billion in market capitalization. While the vast majority of the top 15 cryptocurrencies have either maintained their value or seen it go up, XRP and XLM have lost price when compared to 2018.

It is fair to look for reasons that can explain the phenomenon, and specialists think that the downturn may have to do with Ripple Labs, which is the financial technology company, and other actors that adopted the project earlier.

People with knowledge of the industry and its dynamics seem to think that XRP’s founders, such as Jed McCaleb, cashing out their tokens have had an impact on the crypto’s fate. CoinMetrics reports that McCaleb is selling 500,000 XRP on a daily basis, and the ecosystem itself has sold millions of dollars worth of XRP with the objective of covering up expenses and restoring balance in the accounting books.

According to the co-founder of Multicoin Capital Kyle Samani, Ripple’s sales have gone substantially up in recent weeks, in comparison with the first three quarters of the year, which may have its consequences when it comes to the downward pattern of its price.

A Recurrent Situation

Samani also explains that while the situation hasn’t been evident to most of the community, savvy investors have been aware for quite some time. However, it is only recently that the market is showing the ill effects of the previously explained situation.

Bloomberg reports that Samani is short on XRP, well aware of the fact that the Ripple ecosystem is the main culprit of XRP’s current shortcomings in comparison to other top-ranked crypto assets.

Ripple has been ramping up its sales, having liquidated 50 percent more tokens in the second quarter of the year than in the first.

However, Ripple is still pushing forward despite the situation. Multiple reports note that the ecosystem is working on several deals, investments, and acquisitions, in an effort to boost utility. As a positive, the asset remains one of the easiest cryptocurrencies to acquire, as people can buy XRP with PayPal and tons of other payment methods.