Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, was recently interviewed by Cory Johnson (Chief Market Strategist at Ripple) in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session that was aired on Wednesday, August 22nd. In the AMA session, Brad and Cory discussed a lot about XRP, Ripple’s products, new employees at Ripple as well as the future of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries across the globe. The full interview has been posted below for easy access.
Q3 Could be the Game Changer for XRP
Of particular importance during the discussion, is when Cory Johnson asked Brad Garlinghouse about what his thoughts were with Wallstreet and institutional investors talking about how they want to get into the crypto space as well as the challenges they are facing with custody services for digital assets.
Brad is quoted as stating the following:
One of the things I will tease for a future announcement within the Q3 market reports, which we always share…where we see institutional participation in buying XRP. Q3 will definitely be a record of institutional participation in buying and interest in holding XRP.
Further analyzing Brad’s comments, we can speculate that institutional investors are already buying XRP or plan on doing so in this third quarter of 2018. One question everyone is asking, is why the price of the digital asset has not gone up if these purchases are happening. The answer to this question could be that the Institutional investors are buying XRP Over The Counter (OTC) rather than through the regular crypto exchanges we are used to.
Brad would also add the following with regards to when more institutional investors will get into the space with more vigor.
I thought 2018 we would as an overall industry see more aggressive institutional participation. It has taken a bit longer. Now I would predict that 2019…the railroad tracks are being laid…You are seeing very interesting companies getting started to solve the institutional custody problem. That sets us up nicely for about the back half of 2018 and also 2019.
The institutional custody problems are being solved by firms such as Bakkt and Coinbase custody. According to Mr. Garlinghouse, there is a high possibility of blockchain startups solving more of these custody issues and then partnering or being acquired by Wallstreet firms. This is due to the fact that Wallstreet has a habit of first letting the startups solve a problem, then coming in with the ‘big money’ to fund expansion.
In conclusion, with Bitcoin (BTC) and the overall crypto markets showing signs of stability, Q3 might be the beginning of XRP being great in the markets once again. There is also the added factor of xRapid going live some time soon and further proving the utility of XRP as a source of instant liquidity for cross border transactions.
