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Ripple CTO David Schwartz was engaged in a dialogue with an XRP enthusiast about whether the $3.84 price level achieved in January 2018 was indeed an all-time high for XRP or not.
The Ripple CTO confirmed that this “ATH” was not quite what it seemed and how it was reported by the media to the global cryptocurrency community. This discussion took place as the Ripple-affiliated XRP coin has surpassed the $3 level and is targeting its old “all-time high” as it keeps moving upwards.
Schwartz unveils truth about XRP ATH
The XRP enthusiast stated that $3.84 was not exactly a ATH for the XRP token, adding that such a high price was indicated due to “Korean exchange rates misleading people.” He recommended his audience to pick David Schwartz’s brain about this issue and then tagged the Ripple CTO in his X post.
Schwartz appeared in the comment thread to confirm what the X user stated. Schwartz said that $3.84 is indeed “often reported as the all-time high.” However, he said, “you could not actually sell XRP for $3.84 nor did you have to pay $3.84 to buy it.” He did not share any more details about the actual ATH reached in 2018.
That is often reported as the all-time high, but you could not actually sell XRP for $3.84 nor did you have to pay $3.84 to buy it. That number included inflated amounts due to the use of "official" currency exchange rates for Korean exchange rates.https://t.co/voMP2Mehsz
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 16, 2025
The Ripple CTO explained that this high price contained the “inflated amounts due to the use of "official" currency exchange rates for Korean exchange rates.” And he attached a link that explains such a term as “Kimchi premium.”
The term “Kimchi” is about the dish made of cabbage that is highly popular in the South Korean cuisine. Since Bitcoin and are cryptos are decentralized assets, unlike equities, they can be traded at different prices at various platforms. Therefore, when it comes to South Korea, crypto prices are usually much higher than on exchanges in other parts of the world.
XRP soars 16% to $3.19
Over the past 24 hours, XRP has surged, staging a massive 16% increase and touching on the $3.19 level. At the time of writing this material, the coin is changing hands at $3.10.
XRP soared on the rumors that following the departure of the current chairman Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission may start dropping certain crypto cases pending in courts now, which are not considered to be about frauds. Gensler’s last day in the office is January 25.