Major cryptocurrencies are currently performing well, with Sui and XRP showing notable increases.
Sui has surged by 27% over the past week, while XRP has risen by 4% in the last 24 hours.
The uptick follows the launch of several Grayscale Trust products.
Ripple plans to bring advanced programmability and smart contracts to the XRPL, expanding its use cases.
Major cryptocurrencies are in the green, among them Sui and XRP with some of the strongest gains in the past few days.
Sui has rallied 27% in the past week, while XRP has gained 4% in the past day. This comes after XRP initially shot up from US$0.53 (AU$0.78) to US$0.57 (AU$0.84) but has lost some of these gains and currently trades for US$0.55 (AU$0.81).
XRP price in the past 24 hours, source: CoinMarketCap
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Price Increases Post Trust Launch News
The price increase follows Grayscale’s launch of a new investment fund called Grayscale XRP Trust. The trust is a single-asset fund “available through private placement […] to eligible accredited investors”.
The fund, which is seen by some as prerequisite for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) down the track, trades primarily over the counter, unlike an ETF.
Grayscale’s head of product and research, Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, commented on the launch in a statement:
As crypto investors diversify beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, we believe in providing exposure to protocols that solve real-world problems. XRP can reduce frictions in international payments, enabling more efficiency in an evolving global economy.
Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Grayscale
Sui also had a recent fund launch – the Grayscale SUI Trust – which is now fully available to “eligible accredited investors” for trading.
Ripple CTO Clarifies Smart Contract Functionality
Ripple recently shared in a blog post their plans for the XRP Ledger (XRPL) going forward. The company said it’s looking at bringing “advanced programmability, including smart contracts” to the XRPL developer ecosystem.
This would include layer-1 features like Escrows, NFTs, and a DEX (Decentralised Exchange) and AMM (Automated Market Maker), making it adaptable for a wide array of applications. This would range from traditional finance to digital economy innovations.
And while it looks like the community is eagerly awaiting these developments, as of today, nothing has eventuated. With Ripple’s CTO (Chief Technology Officer) David Schwartz having to hose down community expectations.
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When asked by user Saul (@uptownsaul) on platform X, what the current smart contract capabilities are, Schwartz was blunt in his response:
There are none today. Today, XRPL is a fixed-function ledger.
— David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz) September 9, 2024
XRPL is a fixed-function ledger built primarily for quick and efficient payment processing and currency exchanges, lacking native support for the Turing-complete smart contracts found on platforms like Ethereum.
However, as mentioned, Ripple is actively developing solutions to enhance the XRPL’s programmability, including exploring native smart contract capabilities and creating an XRPL EVM Sidechain.
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