‘XRP The Base’ The Movement Gets CZ Nod, Cryptosphere Yawns
December 27, 2018 by Paul de Havilland
Ripple XRP crusaders got their long-cherished wish on Christmas Eve from Binance, with XRP the base currency becoming a reality for a couple of trading pairs on the world’s highest profile exchange. But does it really mean much?
Also read: ConsenSys to Shrink With Ether Price, Lubin Remains Upbeat
Subscribe to the Bitsonline YouTube channel for great videos featuring industry insiders & experts
XRP The Base, XRP The Standard
Ripple has no shortage of fans. On December 24th they got their wish for XRP to trade as a base currency on Binance, with CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeting he had succumbed to the movement’s noise and offered a few trading pairs with XRP as the base currency:
We will be adding a couple trading pairs with XRP as the quote currency shortly.
And rename ETH markets to ALTS market. Running out of space on the UI.
Merry Xmas!
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) December 24, 2018
With Ripple now tradeable with Zcoin and Tron directly, (bypassing a route through Binance’s BNB or bitcoin), Ripple traders get to… trade directly from Ripple to Zcoin or Tron.
OK… so it doesn’t sound so exciting after all. What’s the big deal about XRP the base, then?
Symbolism, Tribalism, and Ripple-ism… The Holy Trinity
The XRP community will revel in the symbolism of their coin being one of a handful of chosen ones permitted to trade directly with other coins without going through Binance’s native token or the OG. But apart from a brief Christmas Eve flirtation with the whiff of victory, does this really mean anything?
In the tribal warfare that defines–and mars–the cryptocurrency industry, CZ’s gesture does grant the XRP crowd something to boast about. As an apparently favored currency, the jurisdiction-hopping Binance decision will lend Ripple some of the credibility it has so desperately desired amid the spiteful criticism to which it has become accustomed.
Much of that criticism is by virtue of two factors. One, it is designed as a product for the very industry cryptocurrency is spiritually at war with–traditional banking institutions. Secondly, Ripple Labs holds about 60 billion of the 100 billion XRP coins in “circulation”, making the currency heavily centralized— yet another countertenor to crypto’s soprano chorus.
A Drop in the Ocean On a Slow News Day
CZ’s move is little more than a drop in the ocean; a gesture of benevolence to the choir at the Church of the Latter Day Ripples. (Incidentally, XRP is divisible to six decimal places, with the smallest unit referred to as a “drop”.)
Ripple has suffered savagely at the hands of the 2018 bear market, falling from almost $4 USD back to its pre-hype highs of around 30 cents. A little bit of Christmas love is no more likely to harm anyone than it is to offer XRP any unwarranted respite from either the persistent bearish sentiment that plagues it nor the hatred it attracts from its detractors.
The Garling House may be slightly cheerier, but will surely continue to rifle through Santa’s bags of goodies in search of more xRapid adoption among its banking partners. (Notably, it recently added American Express to its xCurrent client base.)
Sound off below. Is the Ripple the Base movement a significant force in crypto?
Images via Pixabay
Related News
