I actually took the time to study about Ripple due to seeing news that banks were going to use it along with big companies like Money Gram. That is great for ripple. Sounds like a great business. But as a investor we have to figure out if this coin has actual value in this eco system. Are these businesses going to have to use this xrp token to do transaction on the network? Then answer is no.
Banks can use dollars, euros, or another local currency on the Ripple platform, circumventing the alt-coin. This was pointed out by the New York Times. I wanted to let you all know about this before you invest in it. This is the same thing I saw with factom that the government doesn't have to use the factom token to use its eco system.
When these coins are not needed to use these eco systems that means they wont be used by these big banks or businesses. If they are not used by these big businesses then the coin itself doesn't really have much value . That is the problem I have noticed with some crypto currencies. The crypto itself it just a tool to get ico money to put money in peoples pockets to start up crypto businesses, but there is no real value to the investors who believe in the system they are building. The people that invested not in the crypto but into the ripple eco system could make a lot of money. But that coin could be worthless in 10 years because people can do transactions with usd on ripple network. They don't need the xrp token.
"But banks do not need to use Ripple tokens for Ripple’s software to transfer dollars, euros and yen. That point appears to be lost on many small time investors who are buying Ripple tokens. Several virtual currency hedge fund investors said that they have talked to banks and heard about interest in Ripple’s software, but not its tokens." (Nathaniel Popper, New York Times.)
So make sure to take the time to study the coin itself. Find out if the coin itself has to be used in this eco system or can they find a alternative way around the crypto and use the network without it. If that is the case you have to ask yourself where is the value in the crypto itself?
pictures:
bad news- http://static.adweek.com
ripple with banks- magzter.com
article on ripple- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/technology/bitcoin-ripple.html