Expert Sheds Light on Why XRP Performance Has Been Poor Since 2017

WrathofKahneman (WOK), a pseudonymous XRP community figure, recently sought to explain why XRP has been underperforming since its explosive rally throughout 2017.

Notably, XRP has been lagging behind other major coins, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), in terms of price appreciation. Despite XRP’s potential to revolutionize cross-border payments and remittances, the token has faced several challenges that have hindered its growth. 

WrathofKahneman shared a spreadsheet today detailing XRP’s historical price positions on Dec. 21 since 2017. Interestingly, the altcoin saw a price of $1.19 on Dec. 21, 2017. However, it collapsed to $0.35 on Dec. 21, 2018, then dipped to $0.19 in 2019.

XRP saw a mild increase in the following years, rising to $0.51 in 2020 and then to $0.94 in 2021. However, the 2021 value was somewhat discouraging, as other cryptocurrencies surpassed their earlier ATHs during the 2021 bull run. XRP dropped again in 2022 to $0.30, and now it has appreciated mildly to $0.62 this year.

Despite the mild appreciation from the previous year, XRP has not performed as investors expected, considering its legal clarity. Most recently, Solana (SOL) flipped the token to become the fifth-largest cryptocurrency after surpassing its market cap due to a massive run.

As a result of this underperformance, several XRP community figures have expressed concern. Recently, a discussion within the community revealed some of the reasons why XRP has underperformed since 2017. 

Why XRP Has Underperformed Since 2017

Bill Morgan, a pro-crypto lawyer, expressed frustration with the weak long-term trend of XRP price movement. He noted that whenever he tried to raise this issue, he would receive hostile and dismissive responses from other XRP proponents instead of a rational discussion.

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WrathofKahneman responded to Morgan’s post, seeking to discuss what he believes has been impeding XRP’s growth. According to him, the root cause of XRP’s underperformance is related to its nature and origins. 

I’ll bite; the problem is rooted in both the nature of XRP and its origins. In ~2017 we discovered people were actively being paid to FUD it as a banker’s coin. It was never as popular as BTC, ETH, etc. After the big run up, with a sullied rep, the SEC came knocking. 1/2

— WrathofKahneman (@WKahneman) December 21, 2023

He explained that in 2017, some people were paid to spread negative propaganda about XRP, labeling it as a centralized banker’s coin. This damaged its reputation and made it less appealing than other decentralized and community-driven tokens.

He also pointed out that after XRP reached its all-time high of over $3 in early 2018, it faced a major setback when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple and its executives for allegedly conducting an unregistered securities offering. 

This legal battle created uncertainty and fear among XRP investors and developers, who had waited for a favorable outcome. Despite the recent legal victory, the lawsuit has not reached a definite conclusion.

Moreover, WOK emphasized that XRP lacked some of the features that made other coins attractive to speculative investors, such as smart contracts. It bears mentioning that the XRP Ledger already aims to welcome smart contracts through the introduction of Hooks.

WOK said that XRP did not have enough developers building on its platform, as many had hoped that banks and financial institutions would adopt it.

He pointed out that the token has survived despite all this baggage. He called XRP’s survival a miracle but maintained that it survived because it had utility.