The XRP price remained in a tight range this week as investors focus on the upcoming XRP Ledger Sidechain. It is also consolidating as the market focuses on the ongoing SEC vs Ripple case in the United States. Ripple was trading at $0.472, which is about 65% above the lowest level this week, giving it a market cap of over $23 billion.
What is the XRP Ledger sidechain?
Ripple is one of the biggest projects in the blockchain industry that focuses on money transfers. The parent company works with financial institutions to offer them an On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service. Some of its top partners are companies like SBI International, Nium, Bank of America, and Lemonway, among others.
While Ripple was established in 2013, it is still in its growth phase. It is achieving this by introducing more companies into its ecosystem and more others. In addition, the developers are working to boost its ecosystem.
One way is by launching an XRP Ledger Sidechain that will make it possible for developers to deploy smart contracts made for Ethereum. Once complete, XRP Ledger Sidechain will be compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). EVM is the software that runs smart contracts on Ethereum.
Learn more about how to buy Ripple.
According to Ripple, its developers are now implementing the first of three-phase process that will complete in 2023. The second stage will make the EVM sidechain permissionless. It will then be followd by the third phase when the upgrade will go live on its network.
As a result, Ripple hopes that its network will have a bigger role in Decentralized Finance (DeFi). In a statement, the company’s CEO said:
The XRP price is also reacting to the ongoing SEC vs Ripple case in the US. Analysts expect that the outcome will be positive for XRP.
XRP price forecast
The daily chart shows that the XRP price has been in a tight range in the past few days. This price is a few points higher than the important support level at $0.4090, which was the highest level on July 30th. It moved above the 25-day and 50-day moving averages.
At the same time, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has formed a bearish divergence pattern. The coin will likely resume the downward trend as sellers target the support at $0.4090, which is about 12% below the current level.