Ripple has been in the news especially after xRapid was announced. xRapid is said to help reduce cross-border transactions and has even been dubbed as a “bridge” between fiat and cryptocurrency. As xRapid was launched, it enabled Ripple to take over Ethereum’s spot for a number of occasions as the second largest cryptocurrency. And also, there are already companies that wanted to test xRapid.
In a recent interview on Bloomberg TV, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse discussed the usefulness of the company’s technology. He said that “any digital asset in the long-term is going to be valued based upon the problems it’s solving”.
Today, Ripple has a number of institutional clients to show for it. In fact, it has partnered with the likes of Santander and Western Union. Cory Johnson, the Chief Market Strategist for Ripple even discussed that Ripple (XRP) is “Bitcoin 2.0”.
Blockchain in Banking
Now, it seems that Ripple is looking to increase the adoption of XRP by partnering with different institutions and companies. Garlinghouse discussed during the interview that there are at least 100 SWIFT-connected banks that already signed on with Ripple. Garlinghouse also defended the role that blockchain plays in the banking sector. He said that “SWIFT said not that long ago they didn’t see blockchain as a solution to correspondent banking. We’ve got over 100 of their customers saying they disagree”.
There was a massive spike in XRP trading last week as rumors circulated that SWIFT and Ripple are partnering via RippleNet. This rumor turned out to be false. Garlinghouse even said that Ripple has no intention of partnering with SWIFT. He said that “What we’re doing and executing on a day-by-day basis is, in fact taking over SWIFT”.
SWIFT has remained as the primary means of transferring cross-border transactions, at least in countries where it is legal. What cryptocurrency presents is an opportunity for banks and investors to lessen the cost of these transactions.
Securities Lawsuits
There are a number of securities lawsuits that were filed against Ripple. The claim was that Ripple sold them a security in form of XRP. For this reason, the US Securities and Exchange Commission even decided not to include Ripple when it mentioned Bitcoin and Ethereum as commodities.
And also, one issue is that the majority of XRP is owned ultimately by Ripple. Recently, Ripple’s legal team moved the case to a federal court. It has been dubbed as a brilliant move by some legal experts considering that it can resolve the problem once and for all. Many legal experts believe that it is possible that Ripple’s legal team see the move to bring the lawsuit as a security as a move that increases their chances of winning the case.
Is it possible that Ripple competes with SWIFT? Is it possible that there will be more banks that will be implementing Ripple products? Considering the potential of Ripple, it has the ability to make cross-border transactions faster and even decrease the cost as well. And also, what happens if XRP is declared a security? Could it be that its price is going to dive?
