In a tweet on August 23, 2019, Breanne M. Madigan, Global Institutional Markets at Ripple blockchain company said the XRP/MXN trading volume on Bitso crypto exchange spiked by over 25%.
Also, the surge in trades occurred at a time when MoneyGram began using Ripple’s xRapid technology in Mexico, which shows the technology’s real use case is driving actual volume.
XRP/MXN Trading Volume Surges
According to Breanne M. Madigan, Ripple (XRP) trading, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, against the Mexican peso (MXN) surged by over 25% on Bitso.
However, the surge in XRP/MXN trading volume occurred at a time when XRP trades in the overall crypto market was down by almost 65%.
In the same vein, the spike took place just about the same time MoneyGram, the world’s second-largest money transfer company began using the xRapid product (which uses XRP as its base currency) to facilitate cross-border payments in Mexico. Accordingly, Madigan attributes this remarkable performance to a real-life use case of the xRapid payment solution instead of mere speculation.
Mexicans Embrace Crypto Amidst Economic Uncertainties
Mexico, on the other hand, is one of the world’s major economies that could face a recession. CNN reports that although Mexico is one of the 20 largest economies in the world and has just dodged a recession, its economy is still expected to perform weakly this year. Also, investment has dropped in the North American country.
Similarly, the Mexican peso alongside other Latin American currencies have weakened against the U.S. dollar after a retaliatory tariff imposed by China on U.S. goods. These uncertainties in the country have attracted Mexicans to cryptocurrency, especially those who have difficulty accessing financial services.
And with MoneyGram’s use of xRapid for transactions in the country, it could have driven the demand for XRP. The money transfer company had announced this month that it has begun using Ripple’s technology for cross-border payments. The announcement was made weeks after its strategic partnership with Ripple in a $50 million deal.
XRP’s Price Declines Despite Surge in Trading Volume
On the other hand, the XRP’s community’s comments on Madigan’s tweet showed mixed reactions. Some users were quick to point out that the high-level adoption was unable to spike XRP’s price, since it traded even lower, from $0.38 at the time, to $0.26. As at press time, XRP is priced at $0.2696 and has been trading around the $0.25 and $0.30 range for the past few weeks.
Nonetheless, there were still other members of the community that held their stance that XRP is preparing to leap in price. In their opinion, it is warming up to be the next big thing.
