2018 was a difficult year for most of the crypto assets in the market, including XRP. Companies have also been affected by this bear trend. XRP has been during the last years among the top 3 virtual currencies in terms of market capitalization. However, Coinbase, one of the largest and most important crypto platforms available has not listed XRP yet.
Earlier this year, different rumours circulated on the internet and social networks regarding the possibility for Coinbase to list XRP as one of their virtual currencies. By that time, Coinbase had only four assets on its platform: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Because of these rumours and a crypto market that was growing really fast, XRP was able to reach $3.84, its highest price ever recorded. Nevertheless, the company itself announced that they were not going to list XRP in the short term.
At the same time, XRP and Ripple face more problems and troubles during the year. As the market was already dropping from its all-time high in January, Ripple started to receive lawsuits claiming that XRP was sold as an unregistered security. One of these cases has already been moved to Federal Court as requested by Ripple’s attorneys. This has also created FUD in the space and around XRP.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities. But there was no regulatory agency claiming that XRP was not a security. This is something that harmed the virtual currency and pushed it to its lowest point this year close to $0.25.
Nonetheless, there are several experts that believe that XRP is not a security and shouldn’t be considered one. One of these individuals is Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, one of the largest and most important crypto exchanges in the market. In a recent tweet, Changpeng Zhao said that if XRP is considered a security this would hurt a lot of US users. He has also mentioned that it does not look like a security to him.
The court case may take years. But if XRP is ruled as a security, it would seriously hurt a lot of US users, and to a certain extent, other users around the world too. It certainly doesn’t look like a security to me, but that’s just one person’s opinion.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) December 12, 2018
Coinbase has also seen the effects of the current bear market. Indeed, its trading volume has decreased by 80% since the beginning of the year according to recent reports on the matter.
Both XRP and Coinbase would clearly be benefited if the asset is added to this trading platform. There are several enthusiasts that are waiting for it to happen. At the same time, it will be possible for users to send funds between exchanges using XRP as an intermediary. This would increase XRP transactions and earnings for Coinbase.
With new traders and users joining the Coinbase platform, the company will be earning more money from trading fees. Coinbase could boost its revenue in a very simple way.
Furthermore, Conibase has also taken the decision to start listing other ERC20 tokens such as Decentraland (MANA) or Loom Network (LOOM), among others. Additionally, Coinbase explained that it could also add support to more than 30 different coins in the market aside XRP. This is why several crypto enthusiasts and Coinbase users believe that the company is losing its reputation.
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