Cryptocurrency and blockchain were built to usurp centralized authorities like governments and banks.
And then came Ripple, a corporate and institutional reimagining of what a digital currency should be and do.
It has often drawn criticism for not being a real cryptocurrency and not being truly decentralized.
Its a far cry from open and censorship-resistant platforms, like Bitcoin.
Ripple styled cryptocurrencies and DLTs are seemingly a growing trend too.
JP Morgan has this quarterboasted that big institutions are really keenon its digital remittance asset, JPM Coin.
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Whether you agree with XRPs ideology or not is beside the point.
The asset has proven itself to be a mainstay of leading cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Heres a look back at how Ripple got on during the first quarter of 2019.
Ripple/USD Q1 performance recap
Ripples XRP didnt have the best start to the year.
Thankfully though, this is the lowest price it would see all quarter.
There was a brief rally in mid-February which would see the coin hit $0.32.
This swift uptick was short-lived though, and XRP would have a tough time for the next six weeks.
The first half of Q2 for Ripple may have left a few traders with a bitter taste.
However, the rest of the quarter was far sweeter.
A brief market correction saw Ripples price retreat back down to $0.3713 over a 2-day period.
This is cryptocurrency and in true volatile fashion, XRP was soon heading skyward once again.
On the last day of Q2, the coin was trading at $0.3998.
In June, Ripple officiallyexpanded in South Americaby opening offices in Brazil.
The firm alsoopened offices in Switzerland, which is swiftly becoming a hot-bed for cryptocurrency and blockchain businesses.
Whats more, Ripple alsosigned a partnership with international paymentsprovider Moneygram.
Its claimed the partnership will seeRipple become MoneyGrams key partnerfor cross-border payment and foreign exchange settlement using digital assets.
While XRP had a good quarter overall, in comparison to other coins, its gains were somewhat lackluster.
Hopefully, things will look up for the rest of the year.
Story byMatthew Beedham
Matthew is the editor of SHIFT.
He likes electric cars, and other things with wheels, wings, or hulls.
