In my previous blog I gave a link to where I live, and if you were to look up the area you would quickly find it has had a consistent history. That history is the fact that it has played home to submarine fleets for a long time. Currently the UK Nuclear fleet (Trident) is based at Faslane Naval base. From 1961 -1992 the Holy Loch played home to the US Polaris Submarine FBM Refit site one (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Loch#US_Navy_at_Holy_Loch)

While I am neutral on the whole nuclear armament thing I am still to this day in awe of these amazing machines. I usually get to see a Submarine every few weeks outside my house, the top picture was taken from my office window.
Its interesting to note some things about subs, no one person can really say for sure how many are ever on active service duty at any time, guesses in the region of 15-20 nuclear powered and 30-50 conventional but the fact remains its unknown. they are just out there doing their job silently operating in the background. Crews differ in size dependent on the type of vessel and service requirements but for a general service sub its thought to be around 134. Thats a lot of people living in a tin tube for 3 months under water. The crews of submarines are highly highly trained with the affect that everything happens like clockwork, submariners have to know what to do at any given time, and they have to know that everyone else understands their role so the purpose of these awesome vessels can be realized.
We don't really think much about Submarines because they are hidden from us, I often feel blessed by that fact I get to see them for real with my own eyes all the time. I know what they do, I understand their power and their potential. I am the first to admit that I don't really understand how they work, I don't understand all the intricacies of nuclear power. Like many I am happy to accept that there are much much smarter people in the world than me, and they do understand, they know how to keep it all moving along. I am happy to trust that the people who say they know what they are doing actually do.

A few days back we had Fathers Day in the UK, I was out for a few drinks at my local and got to thinking about how XRP will work in the future. I asked about buying my drinks using Crypto and while I already knew the answer I wanted to hear it. I ordered my round of drinks and pulled my card out and payed for them with a simple tap of the card. Later that evening I was checking my Revolut account and realized that I had actually paid for my drinks with XRP. Many people have shared similar stories on twitter of just how easy Revolut makes that process. I didn't do it deliberately, I wasn't aware of what was on my card at that time. The manager of the pub wasn't aware either and frankly didn't care, they got paid in GBP.

THIS IS THE FUTURE OF CRYPTO.
We are living at the very start of a major seismic shift in how money is used, and how it flows around the world. Being able to use crypto in a hidden form like this will allow people from every nation to be part of the global economy. Crypto used as a bridge and transfer currency will eventually become the norm, money will move rapidly and invisibly, everything from a few pennies to buy some bread in India to trillions of $ in financing deals, all transacted in seconds while running silent and deep.

We are talking about Billions of people having the ability to send and receive money, to be able to use it within seconds of it being sent. Think about a time in your own life where getting some money from a friend or relative would have been even better had you got it immediately right at the point when you needed it. This is no longer a fictional idea, XRP and the Ripple Products can do this now.

Back to the beer buying story, while I paid with XRP and the pub got the money in GBP it was still a basic Visa transaction with the magic happening on the Revolut side. That means the pub won't really get their money for a few days. Imagine if there was a way that could be instant, if somehow these card companies could do their bit almost instantly. To achieve a feat of this magnitude requires the banks and the card companies and the businesses of this world to all be connected and in agreement with each other, but what if there was another option, a neutral third party who every one could trust and could be used to handle all these transactions.

How would that even work? The fact of the matter is, that if the crypto revolution is to happen, then most of the people in this world won't know, they won't understand and for the most part they won't care. Like the Submarines; money will move constantly around the world running silent and deep. Most people will never even purchase crypto that they are aware of, the value in digital assets/cryptos will be in the fact that they are able to operate silently in the background.

Over the coming weeks I expect we will start to see a lot of our crypto-subs coming up to periscope death, some may stay deep, But i think that with all the stored news we have that XRP could blow to the surface breaking the calm waters and bringing huge ripples and waves to the financial world. Think Mojaloop, Coil, xRapid, XRPtipbot and all of the many many initiatives currently going on in the world to make the connections possible.

Just like those Submarines, I don't understand fully how all of these things will work. Thanks to some great people on twitter I have a much better understanding, I have the basics and thats probably going to be enough for me, I am happy to trust that the smarter guys know what they are doing. Some people will want to learn and understand and thats great, and there will be other who do not understand, and why should they? As long as we are all able to transact together and to do it in near instant time the future of money and the Internet of Value are just around the corner. I for one can't wait for the SS Ripple to blow her ballast tanks and come to the surface and launch her payload.