- Transactions on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) hit 675 billion XRP in the first 18 days of January, its highest monthly figure, with another two weeks still to go.
- However, most metrics have dipped, from the number of transactions to volume and profitability, as XRP starts recovering after the botched Bitfinex hack.
The XRP Ledger is having its best month ever in January, recording more transactions in the first 18 days than it has for the past 12 months combined.
According to data from The Block, XRPL has recorded transactions worth 675 billion XRP (worth $370 billion) in the first 18 days of this month. This represents a spike of 1,950% from last month’s 33.3 billion XRP; the month still has 12 days to go.
This is the highest it has hit since its launch in early 2020. This month’s total is also higher than the past 12 months combined. Before this month, the highest it had hit was in November 2021, when it recorded 280 billion XRP.
The milestone comes at a time when the XRP Ledger has recorded yet another landmark achievement—five million accounts. Most of these accounts have been active, with data showing that only a tiny fraction hold zero XRP. With XRPL becoming diversified and hosting wide-ranging applications, including NFTs, this number will keep surging into the near future.
What’s Next for XRPL and XRP?
The surge in transactions and accounts comes amid the Bitfinex incident in which an attacker unsuccessfully tried to exploit XRPL to steal $15 billion worth of XRP, which would have been about half the toke’s total market capitalization.
Bitfinex managed to stave off the attack, with CEO Paolo Ardoino later revealing that the exchange has measures to prevent partial payment exploits. Despite the attempt being for $15 billion, only a few pennies were siphoned as Bitfinex proved to the world that crypto exchanges could be safe havens for users’ crypto.
However, while the attack may have been thwarted, it spooked the market. According to Santiment, the market sentiment for XRP and the number of new daily addresses have dipped drastically.
Following an attempted (but failed) @bitfinex hack using a “Partial Payments Exploit”, there is high negative sentiment toward $XRP. The #altcoin‘s price performance has been middling in 2024. Along with a low #RSI, there is upside while #FUD is high. https://t.co/QOPIKzD7sC pic.twitter.com/M6u59SUVlN
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 15, 2024
The price has taken a beating, too, losing 9% in the past week. XRP trades at $0.5455 at press time, 3.2% down in the past day. The only positive metric is its volume, up by 25% to hit $1.1 billion.
The number of daily unique active addresses is 31% down since the attack, averaging just over 30,000 in the past three days.
Adding onto the misery, the money flow index has dropped to 41 as investors stay away from the XRP market. In contrast, the relative strength index touched 40 yesterday, signifying a regression towards fear and uncertainty for a token whose holders are unshakeable believers.
Other metrics are just as unsavoury, including the number of transactions in the money, signalling that the majority of transactions are being made on a loss.
