We have put great efforts into understanding Ripple and its effect in the market. The 1300% gain in late march, and early april was directly correlated to new partnerships in the financial sector.
The more recent massive gain came from a combination of new partnerships & news, and the increase of total marketcap for all cryptocurrency to the tune of a 20+ billion $ gain in a few short weeks. Most of the top 10 experienced signifigant gains, but ripple out performed any provided projection including our own.
There is growing confidence in Ripple's XRP above and beyond its intended use case. We've performed a survey in 7 countries, and XRP is moving into position organically to also become a stable store of value in the market.
We are of the opinion that XRP is expected to reach u.s. $ parity in the short term, and maintain this position through 2018.