SPARK Airdrop Sparks Wave of XRP Interest,
by Bogdan Giulvezan
In a nutshell, SPARK is the native token of the Flare Network and it is designed to offer “Ethereum-like”, smart contract functionality to Ripple’s XRP, although this will happen on a different blockchain.
The Flare Network is a start-up backed by Ripple, which aims to change the way XRP can be used. By integrating the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) in the Flare Network, it will be possible for Ripple (XRP) users to create applications and smart contracts. This added functionality will likely allow Ripple to extend its reach way past payment settlements, which will lead to an increased customer and developer base.
Flare Network is conducting the airdrop through various exchanges, including but not limited to Coinbase, Binance, and Bithumb. Users holding XRP on a participating exchange at the snapshot time of 2020/12/12 00:00 AM (UTC) will be eligible to receive SPARK tokens. The formula for how many SPARK tokens a user will receive differs depending on exchange.
In other crypto news, US giant Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) recently boarded the Bitcoin hype train, by purchasing $100 million worth of BTC for its general investment account (which is worth an overall $225 billion). This comes after companies such as Square and MicroStrategy have already invested hundreds of millions in the digital asset, and shows that Bitcoin is getting closer and closer to mass adoption.
Yet another positive bit of information comes from Asia, as Singapore’s DBS Bank (Southeast Asia’s biggest bank) recently announced that it will launch a crypto exchange. This would be the first digital asset exchange in the world backed by a “traditional” bank. Moreover, Singapore’s Stock Exchange (SGX) will have a 10% stake in this new trading platform, further acknowledging the influence of cryptocurrency.
Chart Analysis – XRP/USD
At the time of writing, Ripple’s XRP is trading at 0.5500 against the US Dollar, after retreating from the year’s high (0.7800), reached on 24 November. The last 7 days have been overall bearish, with a drop of over 11.50%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The pair found support on the 0.5000 level, which acted as strong resistance in the past (0.5100 was 2019’s high), thus we can expect this level to have an influence on price action in the future as well. For the time being, XRP’s movement is bearish, with both the MACD and RSI indicating that further downside is probable, but price action may be positively affected by the SPARK airdrop (possibly more users will purchase XRP in order to benefit from the airdrop). The main levels to watch are 0.5000 as support and 0.6800 as resistance.
