Ripple (XRP) – How it all started
During 2017, until December, XRP remained at a constant level, failing to exceed $ 0.2. In December, its ascent began, culminating at the beginning of 2018, when the token reached its all-time high, $ 3.45, followed by a spectacular drop, until the beginning of February.
During this 2-month period, a lot was written about Ripple – as expected, given that the team behind it worked with the marketing agency GSR. However, the biggest hype wave, which actually helped the token reach its maximum price, was started by a rumor. Specifically, XRP listing on Coinbase.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8faUjynRdQ
Released towards the end of 2017, the video actually showed the page of another token, but its name was changed to XRP. As expected, it had a huge impact, bringing the price of an XRP token to over $ 3.
During the same period, the popularity of the “ripple” query in Google Trends also increased significantly.
Between December and January, articles about Ripple (‘What is Ripple’, ‘Is Ripple the next Bitcoin’, etc.) appeared on websites with great authority, contributing to the token’s popularity.
The effect was the desired one.
Obviously, the purpose of this entire hype wave was not just to make the token popular.
In addition to the hype generated by the false rumor of a listing on Coinbase, the price was also positively affected by other rumors that Ripple was going to close partnerships with some of the world’s largest banks.
A few notable partnerships had been concluded, but most of these were just interested in testing XRP’s technology. But that didn’t matter to the enthusiasts.
The rumors that created the most hype were related to Facebook, Google Pay, Apple, and Western Union. Although nothing had been implemented so far, the hype did have a great impact on the token’s popularity in January 2018.
At the same time, many journalists from major publications discussed Ripple’s potential. The best example of this is a post by a NY Times reporter who said he was investigating XRP’s chances of being used by major banks.
The results of the investigation showed that the interest wouldn’t be sufficient for large-scale adoption and this prompted Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, to respond to the tweet, by saying that there were ongoing discussions with banks which actually intend to use XRP.
The tweet went viral, again influencing XRP’s price, reaching its all-time high one day later.
But what did initially trigger Ripple’s growth in December 2017, which generated so much hype?
The ascent began somewhere between December 10-15.
During this period, the following articles appeared:
The first was a guide that went viral, targeting potential altcoin investors, while the second talked about a very controversial topic: banks confirming the importance of cryptocurrencies on the market, and starting to invest.
Analyzing the evolution of the price in detail, we can notice that 11-12 December was the exact time when the price increase started, while the first buying guides also appeared. Also, during the same day, the aforementioned rumors about a possible Coinbase listing began.
But what really started the discussions about Coinbase? Speculation! A day earlier, this video appeared:
Coinbase to Add New Coins – IOTA, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Monero, DASH?
Compared to other articles, it did not generate as much engagement, but it did have a huge impact. All the currencies mentioned in the video registered significant price increases immediately after.
Bitcoin Cash
Dash
Monero
IOTA
Ripple Analysis – December 2017 – February 2018
Most shared content
Besides news sites, whose articles about Ripple were massively shared during that period (up to 14,000 shares), we could also see many articles on their blog, with many shares.
One of them was XRP Available on 50 Exchanges, with over 2,800 shares on Facebook and 2,600 retweets.
Checking the article, we can notice a link to the current listings, as well as the new ones that have been added, which is why they wrote the article. There are not 50, there are only 16 current listings (https://ripple.com/xrp/buy-xrp/), and 2 with “coming soon” status.
They came up with the idea that many do not accurately verify the information, probably. We can replicate this, just by saying exactly which exchanges we are present at and adding Binance or Coinbase as “coming soon”, in the sense that we are holding talks regarding this.
The second article which created a lot of engagement (6600 FB shares, 2100 retweets, 247 upvotes on Reddit) was The Truth aboutRipple
It was written by an influencer, CryptoYoda, with a followerbase of ~ 193,000 and a Telegram channel with up to 1500 people. The article also had the potential of becoming evergreen. We can consider it for a collaboration.
Otherwise, using Buzzsumo, we can see the authors of the articles that appeared in the most shared category. We can contact them and find out how we can convince them to write about us.
Also, we can see that the best list items worked in the same period:
In terms of word count, the longest articles were also the ones to create a lot of engagement on Reddit
As for the websites where Ripple was a constant presence, we have the following:
The most popular news on their site were, as expected, those announcing new partnerships:
A similar trend could be observed on large news sites, such as coindesk or cointelegraph. On Forbes, on the other hand, the 4th site in terms of generated engagement for Ripple, we can see, besides news, broader topics, like:
Asians ‘Going Mad’ For RippleCoin
I Just Lost $3,000 Investing InRipple (And Tron), And It’s A Dangerous Feeling
Where Will Bitcoin, Ethereum, RippleAnd Other Cryptocurrencies Be Twenty Years From Now?
5 Tips For Finding The Next Bitcoin, Ethereum AndRipple
What Is The Difference Between Bitcoin And Ripple?
$100 Invested InRipple Would Have Made You $35K, What About The Rest?
Moving on to YouTube, some of the most popular videos were:
Could XRP (Ripple) Be a Scam | The Banks Fight Crypto (1300 FB shares, 238 retweets), while other relevant examples are:
Coinbase to Add New Coins – IOTA, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Monero, DASH? (692 fb shares)
Ripple is on Coinbase?! – Coinbase Added XRP – Ripple XRP Coinbase CryptoCurrency (446 fb shares)
RIPPLE XRP Price to the Moon! Better than Bitcoin? | Altcoin of the Day (400 shares)
RippleEmployees Surprised by XRP Performance – How XRP Can Hit $100 or Higher!
Hype works. That’s obvious.
The token’s initial growth, from the beginning of 2018, was based on fake news, as well as on the exaggeration of the potential of XRP, by announcing huge partnerships, which didn’t materialize in the end. But that did not affect the popularity of the currency at that time, leading it to 3rd place, in terms of market cap.
Meanwhile, spirits have calmed down, the wave of hype has been reduced but popularity has remained. XRP has become an important name in the world of crypto, Ripple turned into a top company and their technology has even started to be implemented.
As a matter of fact, we can even say that everything started with speculation and exaggeration in the online environment. And XRP is just one example.
The conclusion is simple: the blockchain must serve a company in real time. We went past the time when everyone associated it with cryptocurrencies and quick winnings. By 2020, the technology behind it might as well be used at full potential.
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