A
live XRP chart provided by Ripple shows that XRP payments have been on the rise
and are nearing to reach highs only seen during the bull run in 2017. This was
also noted
by Cryptopolis, a quantitative analyst at StrongMarket.

“Breaking: XRP payments on the XRP charts is the highest it’s been since before the bull run in 2017.”

His
observation was then confirmed by another Twitter user, Galgitron, who had also
seen
the spike.

“Massive spike in micropayments. No idea what it’s about, but it could very well be just one actor, so don’t lose your mind. Remittance-size payments volume still high, big weekend drop suggesting at least some utility. If this weekend is similar, really encouraging.”

Growth
of XRP Payments In 2018/19

A
closer look at the XRP chart
referenced by Cryptopolis indicates that XRP payments were at a high of 104,653
as of May 22 which is slightly below the highest recorded in 2017 at 118,756 as
of Dec 29,2017.

Since
the high in 2017, XRP payments have been declining throughout 2018 only to pick
up momentum on Sep 21, 2018, where they stood at 52,375. They then dropped only
to resurface in January 2019 where they recorded a high of 49,079 on Jan 31,
2019.

In
2019, they hit their lowest on Mar 23 at 16,818 XRP payments. However, since
the start of May, XRP payments have been on an upward trajectory.

Possible
Catalysts

The increase in the number of XRP payments through 2018 and 2019 has been influenced by activities around the XRP ecosystem.

For example, during last year’s rise in XRP payments, Ripple’s Xpring was still hot in the market. Xpring was launched by Ripple in May 2018 with the main aim of investing in startups creating products and services for the XRP ecosystem. Other activities that have a hand in the rise of XRP payments include, but not limited to:

The
XRP Army Calling for The Integration of XRP Micropayments on Skype

In
a message
to Skype, the XRP Army wrote:

“Dear Skype, the age of micropayments has come and we need your support. The era of Internet of Value is knocking at the door. My idea is to implement micropayments on Skype. Allow us to buy SkypeCredits with XRpTipBot, allow us to send micropayments on Skype chat as well.”

Although Skype acknowledged receipt of the open letter, it is yet to make a public statement on whether the requested functionalities have or will be added. Nevertheless, the XRP community has continued to pile pressure on Skype through voting.

In March, the same month the XRP Army was calling on Skype, Gmail, the leading email application, allowed sending of XRP payments using a Chrome extension. Microsoft, through its email application, Outlook, had already incorporated the functionality.

XRP
Becomes A Base Currency on Binance

Towards the end of 2018, Binance, the leading virtual currency exchange, added XRP as a base currency. This was a significant move since all other cryptos were to be paired with XRP. This may have had a hand in the increase of XRP payments in January 2019.

Expansion
of the XRP use cases

As
Ethan Beard, senior vice president, Xpring, noted, XRP’s use cases span “above and
beyond” any specific financial application. For instance, XRP can be applied by
financial institutions as a revenue stream, it can also be used by payment
processors due to its low transaction fees, faster processing times, and
providing payment tracking capabilities.

The post Ripple (XRP) Payments Near All-Time-Highs of Dec 2017 appeared first on Ethereum World News.