Ripple up, Ripple down!

So now they are saying Ripple is dead. All the running around, trying to buy Ripple is now futile. Really?

What they fail to understand is that Ripple - the "currency" and Ripple - the "technology" are two discrete things.

Satoshi must be turning in his grave looking at his creation being monkeyed around by bunch of "gold digging" idiots. (And dont tell me he/they can still be alive). Bitcoin had three main objectives as a currency.
1. Maintain a secured ledger
2. Keep transaction fees low
3. ‎Finalize the transition quick.
The core objective was never really to become a trading instrument. Today, it survives as a superior ledger, but is suffering from all old age ailments. CoinMarketCap would disagree, but from a technology standpoint, it is indeed true. It has reached its shell life in terms of its journey as an alternative currency. It can no more compete with the Fiats. It is not cheap on transaction fees, nor quick.

On the other hand, blockchain is the future. In the coming few years, there will not be a field that blockchain will not grace. The concept is so elegant that it will find its way into our daily lives in every sense. Be it IOT, financial transactions (not just interbank like Ripple), real estate, IP/copyrights - there are 200+ real life application areas that are being explored. Though the visibility of the commercial side of blockchain is higher (read ICOs), there is indeed a lot of technology research taking place right now. At the very least, the ICOs are bringing in a lot of funds upto the techie.

Back to the Ripple story. The "currency" Ripple may be considered as just another moolah raking instrument. It has remote connection with the "technology" Ripple and the real-life problem that it is trying to solve - making inter-bank transactions quicker and cheaper. (btw, the role of Ripple is only to cover the transaction fees in the Ripple network). Ripple now has the presence, association and commitment of a few majors in the banking industry. So the technology Ripple is here to stay. At least, they will make sure it stays (shareholders stake).

A closing anecdote. The market that Ripple is trying to enter into is currently monopolized by Swift. So in effect, Ripple's revenue could become equal to Swift's current revenue in some time (assuming 100% market share). Maybe a little more owing to the superior transactional capabilities. But where did the current Ripple currency market cap of  $100 billion come from? What projections are these?? And what is the basis???

Doesn't matter as long as the market is performing, does it?