Ripple, the New York regulated San Francisco based blockchain development firm, has published its first quarterly XRP Markets Report. It offers updates on the state of the market including quarterly sales, commentary on price movement and plans for Q1 2017.

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According to the report, in Q4 2016 market participants purchased $4.6 million of XRP directly from XRP II – Ripple’s registered and licensed money service business (MSB). Ripple says these purchases are significant because they introduce important new partners to the XRP ecosystem.

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As for price movement – while Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rallied, XRP underperformed during the period, only depreciating slightly by 2.04%. Ripple attributes this to limited listings on digital asset exchanges, lack of access in China, as well as XRP’s reputation as a more institutional asset, and not a vehicle for speculation.

On the other hand, XRP saw a sizeable quarter-over-quarter average daily volume growth of 121% in Q4 2016. A significant portion of the growth was due to the initial rollout of a market making incentives program which offers rebates and compensation to liquidity providers in XRP pairs at partner exchanges (with Bitstamp first to join). The program is funded by Ripple as they believe this is a key differentiator for XRP and will improve liquidity and tighten spreads.

Going forward

In Q1 2017 Ripple plans to offer qualified market participants the ability to borrow XRP. This according to the firm will facilitate enhanced participation in XRP markets and will lead to deeper and more stable markets. They see it as a crucial step in encouraging capital market adoption of XRP which will ensure it becomes the institutional standard bearer for international value transfer.