Ripple is one of the most overvalued cryptocurrencys around. They are a marketing machine. For a cryptocurrency to increase in value it must grow the users which use it for the purpose it was created and also increase number of transactions of those users. unless it does that the supply isn't decreasing and it will crash. If you research Ripple you will find that all the news articles don't say the partnership will use the Ripple cryptocurrency itself, but instead will use the technology within their own system.

Exactly how many of the partnerships announced in the news actually utilize the Ripple cryptocurrency?

The worse part is they have not had a single update in their technology since coming out. Also, keep in mind many of the original developers leftand made Stellar Lumen. Ironically, Stellar has had many updates. The technical team went to Stellar, but the business and marketing people are basically what's left with Ripple. There's a reason why they are just now announcing that they are working on their first ever update. They know that they cannot keep the price pumped up with such old technology that hasn't been updated. The question is did Ripple hire a talented technical team that can innovate or just a team that keeps what exists working. Ripple is a high risk investment, but most people out there continually hype it keeping it heavily overpriced.