Why compare it with Ripple, which seeks to be the go-to-point for interbank transfers with a distributed ledger, when Lykke seeks to be an exchange for digital assets with initial focus on small retail traders?
It's an interesting comparison! If you compare:
1) Ripple and Lykke - of course Ripple is worth more, already very successful and indeed banks are obviously interested.
2) XRP and LKK - what exactly is the connection between Ripple and the currency?
I know that for LKK: It represents ownership - 100% of the supply is 100% Lykke. But I have no idea why XRP should be at a billion-dollar valuation, I don't even know for what it's needed and the Ripple-team didn't care much about it. I also don't believe that Ripple as company is already worth $25 billions.
And no, I also don't want to say that Lykke, the status quo, is already worth $425 millions. But if Lykke should become successful it could be 1) much more interesting and valuable than Ripple and 2) like already said: LKK is directly connected to the value of the company.
Value of blockchain-projects in general: There is no project that is not overvalued if we focus on the status quo. There is no project that already could be seen as kind of established. At the same time it's also true that this space has huge potential in general.
Why not compare it to Bitcoin that's worth over 40 billion, or ether's 25 billion? Why not compare it to Amazon with 300 billion or whatever it's worth? Because the only reason to do this is your reason and that is that you are an LKK holder and you want to instill irrational exuberance to make Lykke's price inflate beyond fair value.
I know that's not a reply on my post, but it's an interesting point: Of course it's part of the game that those who are invested write more positive and those who are not more into the other direction. But the question about valuation and what is rational or not is not that easy to reply on. I'll give you my favorite example: Factom. In Factom it's possible to calculate what the price of 1 FCT should be, because whenever Entry Credits (necessary to use the system) are bought, Factoids are burned. Once Factom will be fully developed one could say: The price of 1 FCT should be at least at a level that not more Factoids are burned than new created over the protocol. The price is at $25 right now and that is totally overvalued if we focus on the status quo. It already was overvalued when it was $2.5. Was it irrational to buy it at $2.5? Obviously not. Is it irrational to buy it at $25? That question can't be answered because it will depend on the future and if I wouldn't be invested in Factom I would buy, because the possibility that Factom will be used for billions of entries per month or maybe even per day at some point is absolutely there.
Same is true for pretty much all projects. If they should fail they are very overvalued. Those projects that will succeed are most likely not. And measured on the status quo - I know of no project that would not be overvalued.
Sorry to tell you, that's already happened, which was my point. Could it rise on further irrational exuberance? Of course that's always possible. That's not happening now, LKK continues a slow decline. (It can't decline fast, because Lykke is its only market for itself and doesn't allow limit orders).
Limit orders would mean that there are more orders on both sides, more buy-support included. To say that Lykke couldn't be dumped because users can't set limit orders yet is not correct. Of course the price could fall hard if a big Investor would sell 100% in one moment.
Regarding price-decline: We have seen a hype over the last months that had impact on pretty much all projects. I've seen pumps of projects that are not even in development anymore, "walking deads". LKK moves a little bit slower, is not that "over-sensitive" like others, but of course: also LKK was bought up and corrects now.
I believe one important aspect is the Bitcoin-situation that brings some uncertainty into the whole market - Bitcoin might have more up-potential if things go right but also the opposite if a bad-case-scenario should realize. And most of the newcomers, who came into this space because the ongoing hype attracted them, bought high. It's natural that they are highly uncertain now because 1) they bought high and 2) they can't overlook the situation.
My point is when an asset's price is grossly in excess of its proven value the downside risks magnify. An idea, a Vanuatu brokerage license, 11,442 users and a nice iPhone and Android app don't make something worth $460 million (last time I looked, LKK has probably gone down since then).
To imply that there would be something like a "proven value" anywhere in this space is not right. If I should be wrong, it should be possible to point on a blockchain-project and say "yes, that is already worth it's valuation".
Regarding 11k users: That's the status of early june and has doubled since. The vanatu-license is only the beginning. In my opinion it's never about the status quo at all but about the question if the tendency is positive, basically about the questions:
1) what is planned for the project?
2) can those plans be seen as high potential?
3) do I believe the team behind is able to deliver?
And everybody has to come to own conclusions, but in my opinion it's yes yes yes. If the team delivers and builds a platform how Lykke is meant to be in future, we are talking about a billion-dollar-company - all risks included of course, like in all projects. Nothing is safe and I'm still the opinion that there is nothing objective to find.