XRP: Blockchain pro Panos Mekras reveals his five reasons to hold long positions

Panos Mekras, blockchain consultant and pro in financial technology, has just shared his optimistic view on XRP on social media. Interesting.

His background is solid. He has a degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Macedonia. He started in crypto back in 2016. Then he founded DigitalGen Financial Services in 2020. He also published a book. It's called "Understanding the Crypto Economy". Now he is the CEO of Anodos Labs, a startup he co-founded. An impressive career, indeed.

Mekras seems quite convinced about XRP. He gives several reasons. The first has to do with efficiency. XRP is decentralized and deflationary. It is part of the XRP Ledger, which has been functioning for over ten years now. Not bad. He calls it "the original DeFi chain," and I think he has a point. It was a pioneer in many things: decentralized exchange, stablecoins, tokenization... And it doesn't have those smart contract issues. Advantage.

The legal situation has improved a lot. In July 2023, Judge Torres ruled that XRP is not a security. Great news. This opens doors. Fewer regulatory worries mean more development. Logical.

There is something curious about its current market capitalization. It does not reflect all its potential, according to Mekras. It seems that the market has not fully processed the recent developments yet. Opportunity, perhaps.

The XRPL ecosystem is changing. It is no longer just for payments. Now it has NFTs, Hooks, AMMs... even EVM sidechain compatibility. Also DIDs and more things. The XRPL is becoming a hub of blockchain innovation. Sounds promising.

Many projects are building on XRPL. Hundreds, they say. New use cases. More activity on the network. Greater demand for XRP. And this will only increase when they launch all those innovations they mentioned earlier. More developers will arrive. The ecosystem will grow.

Someone asked him about the fees. Mekras clarified something important: on XRPL the fees are burned. They do not generate income as such. They are ultra-low. They are not useful for comparing activity with other networks. Interesting fact.

And about Ripple... Mekras downplays it. XRP existed before Ripple, he says. And it would continue to exist without it. Yes, Ripple has a lot of involvement right now. But that matters less and less. The ecosystem is growing. Other parts are contributing. XRP is going on its own, more or less.