XRP entered a new chapter in the Japanese payments market after Rakuten Wallet connected the token to Rakuten Pay and Rakuten Cash, providing millions of daily users a way to interact with cryptocurrency through an ecosystem they already use.
The development is one of the most we talked about the XRP adoption stories of the year, among many others. Crypto commentator Dr. Kamilah Stevenson has a message for investors obsessed with the XRP price chart: They are looking at the wrong screen, as the XRP ecosystem quietly opens up to 44 million new users.
The market is missing the real story of XRP
Stevenson comments are based on an idea: the adoption of XRP maybe move forward beneath the surface, even when price action appears calm. According to the crypto commentator, many investors judge the adoption by if the price rises immediately after a title. This is not a good way to measure developments like the Rakuten Wallet rollout.
Related reading
As Stevenson noted, 44 million people just gained access to XRP. However, this does not mean that 44 million people have purchased the cryptocurrency. Instead, he’s referring to Rakuten Wallet, which added XRP to its Rakuten Pay app, allowing its 44 million users to use the cryptocurrency as a payment method at more than 5 million merchants in Japan.
Therefore, this implies that a consumer base of 44 million users now has access to XRP at all times, including to use it as a payment option. This is important for XRP because the cryptocurrency’s long-standing investment thesis has always leaned heavily on the utility of payment. This also plays into the trend towards adoption by financial institutions. As Stevenson noted, “this is exactly what institutional adoption looks like, and most people are completely unaware of it.”
Price is not the first signal to watch
Most crypto investors, especially retail traders, always make headlines and expect the price of XRP to rise very quickly for moves like this. However, there is a risk in expecting adoption to appear instantly on the price chart.
Related reading
On the other hand, true adoption does not cause prices to change immediately. Institutional money doesn’t make headlines. The most important elements are transaction volume, merchant adoption, and proof of concept at scale.
This view fits Rakuten’s development better than a simple bullish price headline would. The deployment of Rakuten Wallet allows users to convert Rakuten points to XRPredeem the asset in the app and charge Rakuten Cash via Rakuten Wallet for spending with Rakuten Pay.
Interestingly, the development of Rakuten is one of many which increase the utility of XRP and the entire XRPL ecosystem globally. While retail traders monitor the price chart, real money is monitor infrastructure quietly built underneath.
Featured image of Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
