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Well, already Expedia, Overstock.com, Subway, and hundreds of other stores are accepting Bitcoin as a ​form of payment both in stores and online.
As more and more companies/people get fed up with the banks telling them what they can and can't do with their own money, more and more people will go to cryptocurrencies.

Having to wait days for their money to become available, charging you a ridiculous ​$$ amount in processing fees and tons of other inconvenient hassles of having to rely on the banks to manage everything is just a few reasons people will wake up quickly when they start hearing more and more about cryptocurrencies.

Lastly, peolple don't have much faith in their owns country currency anymore and are fearful that it won't be worth what it once was​ soon.

Ripple is a new way of sending money you currently own to a friend halfway across the world, so then he can go to the bank and cash the ripple in for whatever currency he uses on a daily basis.
I don't see ripple skyrocketing since it isn't an actual currency used to buy stuff with, just to trade currency, so the demand and supply will always stay close to the same therefore not creating a big price drive.
Now I Won't say ripple won't go up a good amount by the end of 2017;
I actually forsee if going past $1.00 maybe even to $1.50 by the end of the year.
The short answer to your question is​ I think it will be a good long-term investment for a slow and steady climb.
Thanks for commenting.