On the 7th of December, the popular American cryptocurrency exchange of Coinbase made an announcement that excited a lot of crypto enthusiasts as well as angering a few. The announcement was that the exchange was considering support for 31 additional digital assets on its platform. A few crypto enthusiasts wondered why the exchange would provide a new list when the previous list – that still had Stellar (XLM) and Cardano (ADA) – was not complete.
Others pointed out that the exchange went ahead and listed 4 ‘relatively unknown’ ERC20 tokens rather than solid tokens linked to solid projects. These 4 tokens were Civic (CVC), district0x (DNT), Loom Network (LOOM), and Decentraland (MANA).
One such complaint can be seen in the following tweet.
Listing Civic and Mana is a total joke. Coinbase is losing all the credibility today. Both are literally zombie projects. I’m honestly shocked
— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) December 7, 2018
A Silver Lining for XRP
The new list did however include XRP thus providing a silver lining for fans of the digital asset who have been waiting for a listing since early January this year. Back then, XRP went on to reach levels of $3.84 as traders were sure it was next to be listed on the exchange. Bitcoin Cash had been listed a few weeks earlier in December 2017.
But the listing fell through and XRP tailspinned to current levels of around $0.30. The decline in value was however accelerated by the current bear market that was catalyzed by regulatory fears across the globe, exchanges being hacked, hash wars and traders throwing in the towel due to investor fatigue.
XRP Continually Resilient
However, amidst the turmoil, XRP has managed to become one of the most resilient digital assets in the current bear market. XRP has slowly but surely climbed the ranks according to market capitalization even edging out Ethereum (ETH) in the process. XRP is now ranked second according to market capitalization.
Discrepancies Between Coinmarketcap.com and Yahoo Finance
XRP traders have noted that when using the popular cryptocurrency tracking website of Coinmarketcap.com, $50 Billion in market capitalizations stands between XRP and Bitcoin: The King of Crypto.
Checking the cryptocurrency screener on Yahoo Finance, we find that the difference in market capitalization between the top two is now reduced to $30 Billion. A screenshot from Yahoo has been provided below for a better visualization.
The difference between the two tracking websites is that Coinmarketcap does not include the entire supply of XRP when doing its calculations for market capitalization. It uses 40.92 Billion XRP to reach the market cap figure of $12.86 Billion. Yahoo on the other hand, uses the entire 99.99 Billion XRP to calculate its market cap figure of $31.367 Billion.
Market Reaction When Coinbase Lists XRP
This then leaves us with the question as to what will be the market reaction when Coinbase lists XRP. The exchange has already provided the information that it is exploring listing the digital asset. Therefore, it is safe to assume if XRP is listed in the coming days, it could close the gap it has with Bitcoin or even succeed in dethroning the King of Crypto.
Using Coinmarketcap figures, XRP needs only be valued at $1.525 to dethrone BTC. On the other hand, when using Yahoo’s figures, XRP needs to be valued at $0.624 to achieve a similar feat.
In conclusion, we have given the brief history between Coinbase and XRP since January. The recap also included the causes of the bear market and how XRP has continually become resilient even after Coinbase did not list it the first time. The recent announcement by Coinbase that it was interested in supporting 31 additional digital assets, now changes the dynamics for XRP. It is no longer a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’ the listing will happen on Coinbase. Time is the only factor moving forward.
Do you think Coinbase will list XRP soon? What will be the market reaction of such an event? Please let us know in the comment section below.
Disclaimer: This article is not meant to give financial advice. Any additional opinion herein is purely the author’s and does not represent the opinion of Ethereum World News or any of its other writers. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the numerous cryptocurrencies available. Thank you.
