The past 12 months have been a trying time for Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency and the XRP Army.
As we near the end of 2019, XRP has lost almost 93 percent of its value since its all-time high, and the cryptocurrency is set to close out the year as the worst-performing coin among the top 10 by market cap. According to data from analytics site Coinlib, the price of XRP has dropped 51 percent since the beginning of the year.
Close behind XRP is Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which has lost around 49 percent of its value. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is so far the best-performing coin of the year, having gained 17 percent since the start of 2019.
In terms of its place among market leaders by market capitalization, Ripple’s XRP has shown some stability. While it managed to reach the runner-up spot in the rankings for a few days this year, the token has largely remained in a solid third place among the top cryptocurrencies in the market—despite its sharp drop in price.
During the months of October and November, XRP started to show signs of growth, challenging the rest of the market, which remained bearish at the time. However, whatever joy experienced by the XRP Army was short-lived. After breaking resistance levels at $.30 per token, the price of XRP has since fallen back to minimum levels.
The annual Swell conference put on by Ripple, which was expected to revitalize interest in the coin and potentially lead to another rally, also failed to deliver on those expectations. Based on social media sentiment, however, the XRP community remains largely optimistic about the future of the coin.
After all, the bulk of XRP’s strength comes from the fact that it has the backing of a major company in Ripple, even though the firm insists that it doesn’t care much about the price of the coin, and that its relationship with XRP absolutely, positively does not make the asset a security.