Following a recent partnership with Rakuten Pay, XRP has seen a resurgence in positive discussions on social media, a trend that has often preceded price corrections in the past. On April 29, the token's positive-to-negative sentiment ratio on social media spiked to 3.9, the highest since March 19, when a similar surge was followed by a sharp decline. This spike is attributed to the integration of XRP with Rakuten Pay, allowing users to convert their points into XRP, which has sparked significant excitement among traders. Historically, when social media chatter reaches such elevated levels, the token tends to consolidate or experience a correction in the subsequent days as the buying momentum driving the social wave begins to wane.
The recent integration with Rakuten Pay, which enables an estimated 44 million users to spend XRP at over 5 million merchant locations and convert their Rakuten points into XRP, has been cited as a key factor behind the surge in positive sentiment. With 3 trillion Rakuten points in circulation, worth approximately $23 billion, this partnership is seen as a significant milestone for XRP. Despite the social media frenzy, XRP traded at $1.37 on Thursday, down 2.1% over 24 hours and 3.7% over the week. Santiment data also indicates that crowd sentiment has consistently led price movements by 24 to 72 hours in either direction, with extremes in sentiment often marking reversals rather than continuations.