RIPPLE SPIKES AS MONEYGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT BOOSTS CONFIDENCE

The XRP token surged earlier today, after Ripple and MoneyGram announced that had partnered so the latter firm could test out using the XRP token.

The digital currency spiked close to 30% in an hour, rising from $1.75 to $2.25, according to CoinMarketCap.

At the time of report, XRP had surrendered much of these gains, trading at $1.95, additional CoinMarketCap data showed.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment]

MoneyGram

The MoneyGram announcement helped bolster confidence that Ripple will make good on its earlier claims of striking deals with major payment providers, said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst for social trading platform eToro.

"Ripple had earlier announced that they have struck deals with 3 of the 5 biggest payment processors in the world," he noted.

"Until now the market was treating this as just another rumor," said Greenspan.

"So the announcement today not only delivered good news it also left the taste of anticipation that they may be delivering on their full promise."

MoneyGram

"Ripple had earlier announced that they have struck deals with 3 of the 5 biggest payment processors in the world," he noted.

"Until now the market was treating this as just another rumor," said Greenspan.

"So the announcement today not only delivered good news it also left the taste of anticipation that they may be delivering on their full promise."

Ripple's 'Strong Partnerships'

Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency fund of hedge funds BitBull Capital, also provided positive commentary surrounding the announcement.

"MoneyGram is the latest example of Ripple's masterful cadence of announcements of deals with large companies," he said. "Every time Ripple announces a partnership, we see an increase in value."

DiPasquale stated that "If Ripple's strong partnerships continue, I expect its value to continue to increase."

Market Dynamics

While the aforementioned analysts cited the MoneyGram announcement as fueling Ripple, recent increase, some market observers pointed to other factors.

Ripple suffered a sharp decline recently, which brought it to as little as $1.62 earlier today, a more than 50% decline from its all-time high of $3.84, additional CoinMarketCap shows.

Tim Enneking, managing director of Crypto Asset Management, described Ripple's recent run up as being "Just a recovery from a dramatic selloff."

Ripple Gains Steam

Oliver Isaacs, cryptocurrency investor and influencer, stated that Ripple is "gaining momentum" on its way back to $3 and eventually $4.

He spoke to the digital currency's growing visibility, stating:

"Ripple has over the past month been gaining mainstream attention from the press and investors a like, not to mention numerous Reddit sub threads, coin aggregation sites and Telegram groups, which has contributed to the strong price action."

"Every cryptocurrency investor and hedge fund I have spoken to have asked me about Ripple's potential in the market," added Isaacs.