Brad Garlinghouse Wants to Help the Unbanked

Ripple has been doing tremendously well in the past months. It has even knocked Ethereum down a notch momentarily in the list of top cryptocurrencies in the world based on market cap. The reason for their bullish ways is mainly because of their xRapid product. The xRapid was designed primarily to lessen the cost of cross-border transactions.

And now, it is being used by different institutions. This development has covered the fact that there were lawsuits filed against Ripple some months back with a claim that XRP is actually a security. Ripple has the majority of XRP shares.

XRP on Unbanked People

Ripple has been reported to be targeting the Philippines, which has a significant number of its population living outside the country sending remittances. In fact, billions of dollars of the country’s economy come from remittances. Brad Garlinghouse, highlighted in an interview the role that XRP could play for people who are unbanked. If this is the target market that Ripple is looking to secure, that’s around 2 billion people according to a survey that was conducted last year. And most of those unbanked people are found in developing countries such as Africa.

There are many factors that may have contributed to the problem. You have expensive bank services, low income, conflicts, and underdeveloped financial infrastructure to name a few. In an interview, Brad Garlinghouse mentioned that “If banks want to serve customers, as long as they can serve them profitably. If they serve customers profitably, they are not going to do it. So if we talk about a migrant workforce—for example, in Africa that is not obviously making lots of money and is taking that money from country to country”.

He continued that “The cost of using a banking system will definitely exceed the income that they would have. If they could reduce the friction globally and make it easy for that minor worker to hold assets and to move that asset without costing them a lot of money, they would become part of the banking or the current global community”.

Partnering Up With Bill Gates

Ripple is offering something that could stand out as unbanked citizens can enjoy the benefits of a financial system even if they don’t have an ID. Also, they can make the transactions just by using a smartphone. Ripple has partnered with the Gates Foundation last month in order to offer a payment system for those who are unbanked.

If you can remember, it is Bill Gates and Warren Buffet that criticized Bitcoin. What the partnership brings to the table is an Interledger Protocol that Mojaloop can assist. Mojaloop is a software that can help create a payment system for those that don’t have a bank account.

Focus on the Middle East

Ripple has also focused its attention on the Middle East. Ripple is looking to get its hands on the fastest growing marketplace that has a large percentage of migrant workforce. Arab states have around 35% of the global migrant workforce.

Given the efforts by Ripple, it isn’t surprising if it finally surpasses Ethereum. As for adoption, it remains to be seen if XRP is going to be adopted by institutions.