The Internet of Value is beginning to take hold of people's imaginations - and their daily life!
Coil is continuing to grow, streaming XRP to content creators across the Internet in real-time. xRapid is transporting payments from one location on the globe to another at an almost-undetectable low cost. And these low costs are allowing businesses like MoneyGram to step up competition and revitalize its cross-border payments.
The IoV's vision is 'money moving at the speed of information.'
Ripple commissioned a professionally-produced commercial to demonstrate this concept, using their favorite comparison - flying to the destination with cash personally versus sending it through banks - to emphasize their value proposition to banks at last year's SWELL conference.
Each week, we see the individual layers of the Internet of Value expanding to include new exchanges, banks, remittance processors, and new 'hybrid financial institutions' that deal in both fiat and crypto. And there are dozens of small teams that are now comprising a growing ecosystem of developers working on things like the XRP Ledger, Interledger Connectors, Web Monetization, Coil, xRapid, and Custody Components:
Each of these components contributes to the whole, and toward the goal of moving value in real-time, no matter if it's fiat money or digital assets:

This is the way that technological change works.
It's a multi-layered approach to putting all of the necessary pieces into place to see the whole picture erupt into focus; and the XRP Community is, with Ripple's encouragement, helping to get to this final stage.
This open approach to making the IoV a reality is exciting to watch, and is reflective of the spirit of crypto itself; open-source, decentralized, accountable, innovative, exciting, and fun.
Pick out the layer where you think you can help, and make a positive difference to help propel the cryptomarket forward; supporting each other is crucial in this effort. Together we can help energize and continue XRP's adoption as the standard in digital assets.
Ripple News
Ripple's Xpring Initiative is hosting and funding a hack-a-thon from October 2โฟแต to the 3สณแต (Wednesday and Thursday, respectively) at Berkeley, California, in the Pauley Ballroom.
The event is happening contemporaneously with the first annual UBRI meeting. The Ripple engineering team will be participating and helping with the event and the participants; there will be a judges panel consisting of representatives from Ripple, Berkeley at Blockchain, and Electric Capital.
Each participating team will construct enough code for a demo, and will have an opportunity to present their work to the judges.
While there are some significant opportunities for the winners of the hack-a-thon, along with prize money, it looks like there are enough award categories to honor multiple participants.
Good luck to the attendees of the hack-a-thon, and I hope to learn about the winning projects more in the coming weeks.
Ripple Drop: Episode Fifteen
Ripple published the fifteenth episode of the Ripple Drop, its ongoing series to highlight company insiders, their viewpoints, and any significant business developments:
The theme for this episode was fairly obvious from the interviews it contained; both Chris Larsen, Ripple's Founder & Chairman of the Board, and Michelle Bond, Ripple's Global Head of Government Relations, talked about their perspective on regulation's importance for blockchain.
The quote from Chris Larsen that made the biggest impact was this one:
Question (Reinhard Cate): "๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ด; ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ?"
Answer (Chris Larsen): "๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ.
๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ; ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด, (๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต) ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด."
Reinhard Cate then book-ended that quick edit of Chris Larsen's answer with a similar question posed to Michelle Bond:
Question (Reinhard Cate): "๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต?"
Answer (Michelle Bond): "๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ด; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐น ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด.
๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ง ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ซ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ."
It was a straight-forward answer, and Reinhard Cate subsequently released two follow-up, extended interviews with both Chris Larsen and Michelle Bond.
Extended Chris Larsen Interview
In some cases, Reinhard Cate has released extended versions of the short 'snippet' interviews contained in his 'Ripple Drop' episodes. This one was no exception, and he subsequently published more comprehensive versions of both of the latest interviews; one with Chris Larsen, Ripple's Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, and Michelle Bond, Ripple's Global Head of Government Relations.
He published the extended Chris Larsen interview on the same day as the primary Ripple Drop episode, and one day later issued the extended interview with Michelle Bond:
Question (Reinhard Cate): "๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ?"
Answer (Chris Larsen): "๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ... ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ.
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ (๐๐๐๐) ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐๐, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ... ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ด - ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ - ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ช, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฐ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ.
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ, ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด."
In addition, another point was included in this video that was edited out form the abbreviated Ripple Drop version. In it, Chris Larsen re-emphasized that he - and Ripple - were not pushing for less regulation, but instead want clear regulation:
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐.๐. ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ."
Ripple is focusing itself with amazing power and intensity on the topic of regulatory clarity in the United States; and it seems that due to other high-profile developments in blockchain - such as Facebook's announcements around Libra - that their efforts may obtain additional traction. If Ripple's call for regulatory clarity is matched shoulder-to-shoulder by other stakeholders in the space, that would be ideal. While it's great that Ripple is consistently providing leadership for blockchain technology, it would be even better if some of the other organizations benefiting from regulatory clarity would step forward on a consistent manner as well.
KFH Xpress
We first learned about Kuwait Finance House's membership in Ripplenet in May of 2018. At that time, it was one of many Middle Eastern banks that chose to join RippleNet, the growing network of banks that is quickly replacing the aging SWIFT correspondence banking group.
If you're new to the topic, it's important to note that KFH was established in 1977 as the first 'Islamic Bank' in Kuwait.
An Islamic bank is a bank that handles its affairs and its investments in compliance with Sharia, or Islamic law. This gives it some important distinctions from other banks, such as following the Muslim restrictions on 'riba' or 'usury' which prohibits charging interest. Thatโs just one example of what sets apart an 'Islamic' bank from an ordinary bank.
At the time that KFH joined RippleNet, not much was known about their internal strategies and plans, other than an obvious commitment to modern payment processing technology.
Then, in October of last year, the bank's officials were quoted in a news publication talking about their first experience in using a newly-constructed integration with RippleNet:
"๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ข๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ (๐ธ๐ข๐ด) ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต (๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข) ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ."
Later in January of 2019, the bank indicated that it was going live with their new service, which would be limited to transfers to and from the largest Islamic bank in the world, the Al Rajhi Bank, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It seemed like a careful and circumspect roll-out of the new service.
On September 8แตสฐ, the Kuwait Times ran a story about how the bank was offering a new money transfer service for its customers, called 'KFH Xpress:'
This is where your first question should be 'Is KFH Xpress the same thing as their 'Instant International Transfer' service? And the answer, in my view, is 'probably not.' I looked at the bank's official website, and their 'Instant International Transfer' service is still labeled as such.
So what is their new service, 'KFH Xpress,' and what technology is behind it?
According to the article in the Kuwait Times, the technology used was built in partnership with a company called Finablr. Finablr is a huge money transmitter with enormous reach in the Middle East and Asia. And in February of this year, it was learned that Finablr had become a member of RippleNet too. The company has already formed an agreement with Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand to process payments to that country from some of its Middle East partners.
So, essentially, KFH is now operating its own in-house transfer service, and is also using a new one that it constructed in collaboration with Finablr, which is, in turn, 'built on Ripple.' It's one important example of a traditional bank that is not afraid to take important and critical steps to update its technology infrastructure.
Congratulations to Kuwait Finance House and Ripple on yet another successful transformation. With each implementation of Ripple technology, the Internet of Value moves inexorably forward toward real-time settlement.
Faysal Bank
Another Islamic bank that recently decided to join RippleNet is Faysal Bank, a Pakistani bank based in Karachi. And it is in turn owned by their parent company, Ithmaar Bank, which is based in Bahrain. The bank was founded in 1994, and has over three thousand employees.
On September 6แตสฐ, we learned that the bank had joined the new banking network:
The Chief Digital Officer of Faysal Bank noted:
"๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด."
The addition of another bank to RippleNet is always a positive news item; and in this case, adding another bank in Pakistan is even better news, because it represents a country - and region - of the world where there may be corridors that haven't yet been explored by Ripple.
MoneyRebel
One of the common phrases bandied about - by me and countless others on social media that share their opinion on crypto - is for others to 'do their own research.'
Why is this comment so popular?
For one thing, we're all in this together. While none of us - or at least very few of us - have what is known as 'inside information' into the dealings of specific companies, we know, for the most part, just as much as the next person. And we're all working together to learn more: In that spirit, we should all recognize that a public, decentralized group is composed of a wide swath of personalities and capabilities.
Since crypto traders really don't know how much effort went into various opinions, it's important for each market participant to verify any information on which they're basing their investment decisions.
One relatively new XRP Community member that has decided to communicate with others and share his own findings is @XRP_OWL (Twitter avatar). On Coil and Twitter, he's published some of his findings, including this recent one about MoneyRebel, a new crypto platform:
In this case, it looks like Moneyrebel operates a fiat on-ramp via a mobile platform, and its corporate description also mentions goals of joining together different aspects of the financial system. In a document that @XRP_OWL acquired, it's apparent that Moneyrebel has integrated Ripple technology into its stack, specifically for cross-border payments.
This finding was significant, and it made me wonder how many other applications and platforms are actively integrating Ripple technology and solutions; the takeover of SWIFT's role as the new modern payments infrastructure is in progress, and findings like this add to our collectively-known data points.
xRapid Tracking
XRP has multiple, very large use cases. This includes using it as a bridge asset for cross-border payments. Essentially, XRP plays the role of a bridge asset, so that banks, remittance processors, and others are free from having to establish multiple banking relationships in other countries; instead, these banks and businesses only need to 'hold XRP' to easily transform currencies from one type to another.
Ripple, the largest company using XRP for this purpose, has created a software package that utilizes this feature, called xRapid. xRapid is a solution that is available to an organization once Ripple implements other related components, such as xCurrent.
In late 2017 and early 2018, we saw some of the early adopter remittance processors and banks use xRapid for their payment flows, and then in 2019, with the landmark MoneyGram deal, even more organizations began using the option.
To track the increasing volume levels attributable to the software package, an XRP Community member named @H_M_X_ (Twitter avatar) has developed his own set of techniques, tools, and programs for identifying these xRapid transactions from otherwise-opaque payments. He accesses the data from the XRP Ledger that is related to wallets belonging to xRapid-participating exchanges.
Here is a recent communication H_M_X_ tweeted out:
Analyzing the transactions requires him to first do the most difficult task; transaction identification. To do this, he zeros in on exchange transactions. The great thing about H_M_X_'s analysis is that he's decided to share his tools and techniques on Github.
If you're interested in xRapid adoption and progress, you should follow him on Twitter, and if you're technically proficient at data analysis, you may want to read through some of the files in his Github repository:
H_M_X_'s Github repository: https://github.com/hmatejx/xrapid_search
Coil
It was a great week for Coil authors; I counted at least six new authors just within my own small circle of the Internet. If that's any indication, that means that more content is on its way on the new blogging platform.
One thing you'll notice is that creators of this new content are from all types of genres; some are musicians; some are photographers; others are historians. This type of potpourri is exactly what a new and growing platform needs when it comes to creating a sizable collection of content over time. Even though Coil is still technically in 'beta,' this current trend of new content will place the team well past the starting line when they 'go live' with the application's full set of features.
One XRP fan that recently analyzed monetization is @DocteurXrp. He investigated the various use cases that he imagined in the music industry, and pondered how digitization and real-time settlement could change the day-to-day way that the industry supports its singers and musicians:
The blog's author promised to cover monetization of the gaming industry for his next deep dive; I recommend reading through some of his blog, as it's apparent that this is one cryptomarket participant that takes 'DYOR' ('Do Your Own Research') seriously.
My Coil Recommendations
I've sampled more Coil authors over the last week, and have collected the information on a few of these new authors to share with others. While not every author puts in the same amount of effort on their entries, you'll find a lot of premium content and Easter eggs only for Coil subscribers in these posts, and in some cases the entire article has been configured only for paying Coil members.
If you happen to encounter a new author on your own while browsing Coil, you can act to help grow the community and the application by sharing what you've found over social media; each payment to a content creator involves a small amount of XRP.
In this way, Coil is a win-win; as you create, earn, or browse, each of these activities will help promote XRP, the Internet of Value, and Coil, strengthening the entire XRP network.
My recommendations:
Author: Docteur CX@docteurcryptoxr
Article: The A to Z of XRP (part 2)
Topic: XRP
Author: King Solomon @XRP_OWL
Article: Intellect Design Arena (iGTB) CBX Product - "Intellichain" "Intelligent Audit" & Dutch Banking Group ING
Topic: XRP
Author: Inspiring Women @inspiring_women
Article: Women who make big changes in this world
Topic: Inspirational
Author: Marc Larson @Marc1Tech
Article: Click This ... Part One
Topic: Entertainment
Author: Seth Stanley @SethStanley
Article: Movie Deaths Volume 1
Topic: Entertainment
XRP News
The XRP Community Fund Foundation made progress on September 9แตสฐ with the official signing of necessary government forms in The Netherlands. While the members of the foundation based in the U.S. were not in attendance, the three Dutch board members were there, and filed the required forms:
It may have been a minor bureaucratic step in the overall process of running a foundation, but the occasion was symbolic in nature; the event marks the official starting point of the XRP Community Fund Foundation.
Up next for the fund? Building.
Creative Marketing Using Holographs
Do you know what a 'hologram fan' is? Hint: It's not a person who loves holograms. It's an actual 'fan' - one that spins around - that can create images based off of mathematical calculations about how fast the rotor is spinning and what type of lights it can display:
And @emagdn1m3 (Twitter account) chose one of the most popular XRP-related GIFs to display with his 'fan holograph;' the one created by @_JonnyLawrence.
It was a creative and fun post; sometimes activities to promote XRP can just be fun for its own sake!
GIFs of Excellence, Continued
It just so happens that the GIF that @emagdn1m3 used to demonstrate his hologram fan was originally made by another XRP Community member named @_JonnyLawrence.
@_JonnyLawrence has created three very popular GIFs in quick succession; his latest one demonstrates the most prominent differences between Bitcoin and XRP using a 'dynamic infogram' type of video:
These types of creations have a surprising amount of impact on people's opinions. As much as I'd like everybody to have the patience to read through a long blog, some people make their decisions based on very limited analysis or time; these types of visual creations help to get complex points communicated in an efficient manner.
The XRP Drop
In deference to Ripple's popular 'Ripple Drop' video series, an XRP Community member decided to act on a suggestion by others to create a community-sourced version. They decided to name the new series, of course, the 'XRP Drop.'
The idea was only recently proposed, so it was with some amount of surprise that I discovered that a promo video - in advance of the first episode - had already been created by @zerpenator (Twitter avatar):
The series is set to begin in October.
Poloniex
On September 5แตสฐ, the Poloniex exchange tweeted out information about some new upgrades to their platform:
The exchange was one of the primary first exchanges in the cryptomarket, and changed hands in 2018 to a new owner; Circle. The new ownership has made incremental changes over time, along with some significant improvements; this latest series of changes includes alterations designed to improve the user experience for those that trade XRP.
The exchange noted in a series of follow-ups that they were eliminating the 'base reserve' requirement for each new address creation, and were speeding up withdrawals and deposits of XRP.
The shifting of their wallet structure to usage of the tag system is a positive step, as it means that each Poloniex user doesn't have to pay the reserve on a new XRP wallet each time they open an account. Instead, they are using XRPL 'tags' to separate out deposits from one another, like how the XRP Tip Bot operates.
In addition, an XRP Community member, @ShortTheFOMO (Twitter avatar) asked the exchange if they would support the new 'X-address' format for deposits. Nik Bougalis added to this request, noting that other exchanges needed to take a look at the new technique as well.
The X-address supports the tag system, but doesn't require the end-user or XRP owner to use a tag; instead, they can use one address that includes the ability for dependent systems to decode it to two separate fields; a Ripple address (with the lower-case 'r'), and a tag. This X-address format was debated at length prior to a consensus forming; Wietse Wind then created the first version of this address syntax, and published tools for others to use to decode and encode the format.
Hopefully we'll see exchanges begin to use this convenient feature.
Coinfield Project
Coinfield is a Canadian-based exchange headquartered in Vancouver, and it is currently doing a robust business, with over five million in adjusted daily volume, according to Coinmarketcap. The exchange treats XRP as one of its 'base' currencies, allowing traders to quickly move value into and out of the exchange in response to unpredictable market conditions.
Altogether, Coinfield supports roughly twenty-four markets in total, including fiat pairings for XRP that include JPY (Japanese Yen), AED (United Arab Emirates dirham), USD (United States Dollar), GBP (British Pound), EUR (Euro), and CAD (Canadian Dollar). In addition to what is no doubt the most wide-ranging support for XRP against various fiat currencies, the exchange also supports a stablecoin called USDC, where traders can park their value in-between trades.
Absent other factors, this is the type of exchange that the XRP Community should support, as it is apparent that this Canadian exchange extends the liquidity reach and capabilities of the XRP Ledger.
And last week, both the CEO and the Exchange sent out tweets that teased a new XRP-related project. Here is a tweet from the CEO of Coinfield, Bob Ras:
The tweet prompted a myriad of guesses from those in the XRP Community that follow the exchange on Twitter, and the company sent out a tweet subsequently that sparked even more interest:
This tweet also resulted in a list of suggestions from those on 'Crypto-Twitter,' with generally-intrigued responses.
Do you know what the secret Coinfield project or effort is regarding XRP? If so, perhaps you should weigh in with your own comment on Coinfield's promotional tweet.
Thanks to @BankXRP for the note about Coinfield.
Crypto Fundraising
One of the best aspects of the XRP Community is the creativity of its participants.
In 2018, @KingBlue (Twitter avatar) was the first person to champion the use of Wietse Wind's XRP Tip Bot application to raise money for charity.
In his case, his favorite charity is St Jude Children's Hospital.
Jason (@cpilots2017 is his Twitter avatar) decided to support a different charity, known as 'Children on the Edge.' Along the way, Jason has volunteered to raise money for COTE (the acronym for Children on the Edge) in various ways, including running races.
On September 8แตสฐ, he shared that he'd recently presented at a UK conference called 'DLT Con' about his insights into charitable fundraising with digital assets:
Some of my favorite quotes from Jason:
"๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ; ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ... ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด.
๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ.
๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ; ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ; ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด, ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ."
The last quote reminded me of his chosen charity, COTE. COTE provides assistance to children and families that are truly living in challenging conditions where they struggle with the basic necessities of life.
If you're interested in learning more about COTE, or even in playing a more active role in helping to raise money for this worthy cause, you should follow Jason on Twitter, along with the official account for Children on the Edge:
New Community Poster
His original community poster was so popular that many XRP community members petitioned its creator - @stedas (Twitter avatar) - to create more, so that their own originally-overlooked Twitter account could be represented in the historic graphical display. He responded by sponsoring another community poster, and implored those interested to notify him ahead of time if they're interested in seeing their own account reflected in the poster:
The community poster is fascinating to think about; years from now, are we - the collective 'we' - going to be able to tell our children and grandchildren about being part of the very beginning stages of the Internet of Value?
Pick A Layer & Jump In
As an early adopter and investor in digital assets, you play a role - whether it's passive or active - in helping to spread the word about XRP and the expanding layers of the Internet of Value.
Whether it's as a part-time social media commentator, a developer, a writer, a musician, or an artist, you can help the IoV become a reality.
To get the latest information and updates about XRP, the XRP Community, and the IoV, subscribe to my blog on Coil; thank you to those that have already subscribed!
And if you haven't done so already, grab one of those affordable $5 dollar Coil subscriptions to see a growing assortment of premium-only content. And as always, remember to support your fellow members of the XRP Community.
Credits
Thanks to Andy Beales for this blog's cover art