XRP, the sixth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, posted significant gains in the first quarter of 2023. Despite falling from its annual high of $0.590, XRP dominated the crypto market with Q1 2023 total revenue of $361.06 million, excluding purchases, compared to $226.31 million in the prior quarter.
XRP shines in Q1, records impressive growth and performance
According to according to Ripple’s Q1 report, XRP Ledger (XRPL) on-chain activity remained strong, with decentralized exchange volumes increasing 34% to $115 million in Q1 2023 versus Q4 2022. In addition, XRP Average Daily Volume (ADV) increased ) on centralized exchanges 46% in Q1 to $1 billion from $698 million, indicating strong demand for the cryptocurrency.
As financial turmoil dominated the markets in the first quarter of 2023, the token recorded a 46% volume increase compared to the previous quarter, according to the report. This increase can be attributed to market recovery and major volatile events driving up volumes.
In addition, according to data released by Ripple, the on-chain activity of the XRPL remained strong in the first quarter of 2023. The total number of transactions rose to 116,341,516, compared to 106,429,153 in the previous quarter. The average cost per transaction (in XRP) also increased slightly from 0.00096 in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 0.00121, while the average cost per transaction was $0.000484.
In addition, the XRPL burned 140,993 transaction fee tokens in Q1 2023, an increase from the previous quarter. The average XRP closing price during the period was $0.40, slightly down from last quarter’s $0.42.
The XRPLs Decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes also rose in Q1 2023, with $114,567,441 traded on DEX, up from $85,772,947 in the prior quarter. The number of trust lines remained stable at 8,317,321, while the number of new portfolios created was 140,558.
Additionally, The XRP Ledger’s on-chain activity remains robust, with Ripple’s latest report showing transactions up 9% in Q1 2023 to 116 million, compared to 106 million in the prior quarter. NFTs have emerged as a major driver of activity, with over a million assets on the Ledger since XLS-20 went live on the mainnet.
Rise above the rest
The report also notes that due to the recent banking crisis, Ripple temporarily stopped buying XRP for several days due to the outage. However, the company has since resumed purchasing and plans to continue buying XRP as ODL (On-Demand Liquidity) adoption grows.
In addition, three billion XRP was released from escrow in the first quarter of 2023, with one billion released each month, in line with previous quarters and the official escrow agreement. Of the three billion XRP, 2.1 billion was returned and then put into new escrow contracts during the quarter, ensuring the stability and predictability of XRP supply.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at USD 0.4640, representing a 2.5% decline in the past 24 hours. In the broader timeframes, XRP is experiencing a downturn, with declines of 5%, 8%, and 3% in the seven-day, fourteen-day, and 30-day timeframes, respectively.
Featured image of Unsplash, chart from TradingView.com