XRP Demand Surges on Binance, What's Behind It?

XRP, at one point on Thursday, rose as much as 5%, reaching a high of $2.41 before slightly retreating. 

According to on-chain data, the rise follows as XRP demand surges on Binance. According to CryptoQuant,  Binance traders are piling into XRP even as BTC and ETH positions unwind.

CryptoQuant noted in a quicktake post that the last 72 hours on Binance have revealed a dramatic divergence in futures market sentiment among major cryptocurrencies. While traders are aggressively reducing exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum, they are simultaneously placing bold, bullish bets on XRP, signaling a sharp rotation into the altcoin. 

Binance contributes the largest share of XRP spot trading volumes, with data now revealing its XRP traders are using the slight dips in the markets to add positions, showing conviction that contrasts sharply with the fear gripping BTC and ETH, as revealed in open interest.

Fundamentals lining up

A number of developments have also sparked optimism in the XRP Ledger ecosystem in the last 72 hours. 

Yesterday, Ripple announced a $500 million strategic investment at a $40 billion valuation from world-class institutional investors led by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, affiliates of Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard and Marshall Wace.

Ripple also announced it was collaborating with Mastercard, WebBank and Gemini to utilize the RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger to settle fiat credit card transactions on-chain. This follows its earlier announcement of Palisade, a wallet-as-a-service platform. 

Ripple USD crossed the $1 billion milestone, with XRPL closing its 100 millionth ledger. According to Santiment, XRP Ledger data indicates there were 21,595 new XRP wallets created in a 48-hour span in the past couple of days, the highest level of growth in the last eight months.