I think it’s a terrible idea.

From the fundamental point of view, there’re a couple of things that don’t sit right with me.

Bitcoin is undergoing a major correction
Coinbase’s rejection will have a much bigger impact on XRP than most anticipate
Bitcoin

There’s no point talking about Ripple, or any other altcoin for that matter, when Bitcoin is going down.

All alts will follow what Bitcoin does, and at the moment, BTC is in a markdown cycle which was preceded by a long-awaited correction from the all-time high at $20,000 a couple of months ago.

Once the market sentiment changes for Bitcoin (as in, people regain the confidence) and it finally bottoms out (trust me it hasn’t yet), that’s the time one should consider putting money into Ripple or altcoins.

As of now, it doesn’t make sense.

Coinbase

Another major reason against XRP is the recent rejection from Coinbase to make Ripple available to buy on their platform.

Now, whilst it might be perceived as a small hiccup with no long-term drawbacks, there’s way more to it.

Coinbase is one of the most popular crypto exchanges that tends to be a starting point for anyone who wants to dip their toes in cryptos.

Because of the massive hassle they go through to tailor their trading policies individually to most major countries in order to be able to meet their specific requirements so they’re legally accepted as a digital currency vendor, they have their doors open for literally anyone who has a debit card or a bank account.

That, in my opinion, will drastically affect Ripple’s hopes to be fueled with enormous capital coming from the retail end. And therefore slow Ripple’s growth (and halt the price).

At the moment, the most popular way to get some Ripple is to buy BTC first and then exchange it for XRP.

In normal circumstances, this means that one has to register with a crypto exchange.

Then go through a lengthy verification process that usually requires a selfie with an ID or a bank card (most newcomers aren’t used to this and ditch the idea of owning some coins right here).

In some cases, the verification could take weeks due to the backlog of similar requests. Only a handful of people who were never involved in cryptos before will be persistent enough to see it through.

You see where I’m going with this?

Now, imagine how much easier it would have been for Ripple to appreciate in value if most people in the world were able to buy some XRP with ease and little verification.

Personally, I think that XRP has a decent potential to go as high as $10–$15 and the ability to expand its market cap to around $1 trillion in due course, but it will take much longer to cross that bridge than most people expect and most definitely not in 2018.

Therefore, I believe that there are much better opportunities to take advantage of if we’re talking about buying a singular coin to hold for a year and hope it yields a solid return.

But then again, it all depends on what Bitcoin does next and where it ends up this year. It’s not as easy as it was a couple of years ago I’m afraid :).
 ![image](https://img.esteem.ws/3iciqzp0zo.jpg)
Good luck.