XRP Sees Trading Volumes Decline as Users Anticipate XUMM Release

Ripple has had a somewhat challenging second quarter according to a Q2 report published by the company on August 3. XRP daily average and total trading volumes dropped considerably compared with Q1 figures.

XRP’s Trading Volume Takes a Hit

The first quarter saw total volumes peak around $29.68 billion. However, Q2 saw only $17.86 billion in trading volume.

This represents a significant decline of around 40%. Daily volume was negatively affected. Q1 figures represented $322.66 million. In the second quarter, this fell dramatically to $196.28 million. However, it’s not all bad news for the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Over-the-counter (OTC) sales registered $32.55 for the same period. This represents a substantial increase over the previous quarter, where OTC sales recorded $1.75 million.

Ripple and the Secondary Market

The report also revealed that Ripple had been actively buying up XRP tokens. The purchases took place primarily in the secondary market, though no sales figures were made public. Ripple claims that it takes a “responsible role” in the liquidity process as a healthy XRP market is required for consumers. It also intends to continue buying tokens at future market prices, facilitated through its XRP II, LLC subsidiary. The leveraging of RippleNet’s ODL service adds more liquidity to the market, says the report. Ripple engages with the secondary market to minimize cost and risk for customers. Ripple released three billion XRP tokens out of escrow during the quarter. However, 2.6 billion XRP tokens were returned and subsequently put into new escrow contracts. The company has made significant progress with on-demand liquidity, which accounted for nearly 20% of RippleNet volume in the quarter. This is notable uptick when compared with the first half of 2019. By contrast, RippleNet “experienced a 11x year-over-year growth in ODL transaction volume” during that time. The report emphasized that Ripple is focused on “low-value, high-frequency” payments with ODL. As such, the firm will be reducing its focus on large treasury payments. Instead, small and medium transactions will take prominence.

XUMM Wallet

In terms of other developments, internal testing is currently ongoing for XUMM, the upcoming crypto wallet. The first public non-beta “1.0” release is expected in the first quarter of 2021. Some of the upcoming features for the new release include fiat on and off-ramps, auto savings, and auto tipping.