Bitcoin is considered the most popular cryptocurrency in many places – including in Japan, according to a survey by BITMAX. But the XRP token is also very popular there.
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• Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum most popular in Japan
• Investor interest in XRP is waning
• Can Ripple jump back to number one?
The days when Bitcoin was an unknown niche product have passed since its rally and its all-time high in 2017. Today it is enjoying great popularity – but also many other cryptocurrencies that have emerged over time.
Ripple more popular in Japan than Ethereum
The Japanese crypto exchange BITMAX recently conducted a survey on the popularity of cryptocurrencies in Japan. It turned out that Bitcoin is also the most popular cryptocurrency among the Japanese. But if you go after the BITMAX survey, it was not a clear thing, because Bitcoin comes closely followed by Ripples XRP. While 26 percent of those surveyed stated Bitcoin as their favorite cryptocurrency, a quarter of those surveyed named the XRP token as their favorite cyber device. Ethereum, which is favored by nine percent of the respondents, only achieved third place in the popularity ranking.
Only 1,498 people took part in the survey, but as reported by cointelegraph.com, the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) came to a similar conclusion at the end of 2019: Among the stocks of digital assets denominated in yen, Bitcoin was first, Ripple ranked second and Ethereum third.
Investor interest in XRP is waning
But even if Ripple’s token is in second place in Japan, the popularity of the cryptocurrency is waning among Japanese investors, because before that, XRP even had the edge in a duel with Bitcoin. Ripple presumably lost its market leadership as the XRP rate could no longer keep up with that of Bitcoin and has been more or less stagnant for some time. XRP is currently far away from the former high of over $ 2 at $ 0.19 (as of June 24, 2020). Nevertheless, Ripple’s coin remains much more popular in Japan than Ethereum, which is now the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization.
What’s next for Ripple & Co.?
Yuya Hasegawa, an analyst at bitbank, wrote in a note that the demand for bitcoin will surely remain high and that market attention will likely initially mainly focus on Bitcoin and Ethereum. But it can also be expected that “XRP will form a solid foundation in the ‘new normal’ of the COVID 19 era”. The corona crisis would have an opportunity to increase the demand for cross-border payments and transfers. “XRP issuer Ripple already has a scalable infrastructure to implement fast, low-cost cross-border transfers, and its use cases are increasing in some parts of the world,” said Hasegawa.
So it currently seems difficult for Ripple, but not impossible, to take back the place as Japan’s most popular cryptocurrency.
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