Adherents of decentralized money have long visualized a future world, years hence, where money can flow as easily across the Internet as information; where personal property and its disposition is guaranteed by cryptographic algorithms, not by the whims of a central authority.
The first try at decentralized 'Internet money' was Bitcoin, the oldest cryptocurrency.
It relies on proof-of-work competitive mining, an obscenely-inefficient and environmentally-destructive approach to network security. It cannot scale, having an on-chain limit of approximately six transactions per second. Worldwide.
In the event that some readers don't already know it; six transactions per second is atrocious. VISA, a centralized payment processor, can handle tens of thousands of transactions per second. And any true 'globally-scoped' digital asset would need to be able to exceed this to be adopted as a means of high-frequency value transfer.
The answer is XRP. XRP's on-chain speed is a legendary 1,500 TPS, but that's not what makes it scalable; it's an option called 'Payment Channels,' which is baked into the protocol itself. This allows organizations to process trillions of transactions per second if necessary, while settling summary transactions on the ledger.
On top of this, ILP can work with these Payment Channels to process streaming XRP payments; this is the exciting future of real-time settlement:
- Pay checks received every ten minutes
- Bills paid each night
- No need for short-term financing
While credit card companies may not like what real-time settlement will do to demand for short-term credit, ordinary citizens will benefit substantially from it, as will the worlds' economies. The velocity of money will increase, as will the investment cycle. No more waiting days for money to settle: As soon as money is received it can then be used to make further purchases, or to invest in something new.
And only one digital asset has the championing organizations that have already demonstrated this ability to scale 'in the wild:' XRP
General Crypto News
Starting in 2017, the Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force prompted many companies and banks to submit proposals for a nationally-scoped faster payments system.
Ripple was one of those companies that responded, along with groups of large banks and other high-tech companies. In the mix was a system called 'The Clearing House' as well, which is currently used by a number of larger banks in the US.
But the Federal Reserve, at the conclusion of their exploratory effort in 2017, announced that it would be satisfied to 'let the market decide' on what direction to go in, subject to the goals outlined by the Federal Reserve. It was unclear at the time whether the Federal Reserve would eventually adopt a private solution, or contract to have one built.
And now, due to several contemporary factors, among which I'm sure Facebook's recent publishing of the 'Libra' whitepaper is included, the Federal Reserve seems to have grown impatient, and on August 5แตสฐ, announced their plans to create a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system of their own:
The plans have caused many to speculate about whether or not Ripple technology will be included in their solution. In the public announcement, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard indicated that one of the benefits would be:
"๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ-๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ท๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ; ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด...
๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ช๐น๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด; ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ-๐ต๐ฐ-๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ; ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ท๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ, ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ-๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐บ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต-๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ."
In her statement, Lael Brainard emphasizes that the new platform would offer 'nationwide access' and be a 'neutral' one that would encourage innovation and open usage, thereby leveling the playing field for new technology.
My guess is that the large money center banks that currently enjoy a disproportionate share of inter-bank transfers will not like the news, but the announcement cannot be delayed any further, lest the U.S. fall irreparably behind other countries internationally when it comes to real-time settlement.
One YouTube analyst, CryptoEri, noted that:
"๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด"
And she's correct; analysts from American Banker agreed with that assessment, but also noted that some stakeholder groups may not be signing on yet due to concerns that their own needs may not be successfully addressed by the new system. It sounds like this announcement was only the first public-facing message about the new system in what will probably be a long series of communications.
In addition to the recorded presentation by Lael Brainard, the Federal Reserve also created online content about the new system: FedNow Link
Here is a good summary of the FedNow service, as described on that page:
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด' ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ-๐ต๐ฐ-๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฆ-๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ-๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ:
โข ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต $25,000 ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ (๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด) ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข 24๐น7๐น365 ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ด
โข ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ดโ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ-๐ฐ๐ง-๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ
โข ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข 24๐น7๐น365 ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด
โข ๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ยฎ 20022 ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆยฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด
โข ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ"
I recommend taking a look at this online resource; the announcement of the new FedNow service by the Federal Reserve marks a historic decision that will have, in my view, far-ranging, positive implications for the US economy.
Ripple News
On August 1หขแต, MoneyGram conducted its quarterly earnings call.
As a public company, each quarter it performs the step of having the CEO methodically report the summary financial results. For the second quarter, MoneyGram beat the market estimate on 'earnings per share,' however its money transfer revenues decreased significantly in that same time frame.
The earnings call also focused in on the high-profile news of Ripple's massive investment in MoneyGram, providing a significant positive highlight during the presentation by Alex Holmes, MoneyGram's CEO and Chairman of the Board, respectively:
MoneyGram indicated that for more than half of their remittance corridors, they were able to achieve year-over-year transaction growth, and that one area with fast growth is their international online transaction volume.
Eventually, Alex Holmes covered the topic of Ripple's investment, and revealed that MoneyGram had, so far, activated $30 million of the total $50 million dollar cash-for-equity deal. The slide also emphasized:
"๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด-๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ...
๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ!"
He was referring to his co-presenter on the call, Larry Angelilli, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for MoneyGram.
Another part of the presentation that left an impression on me was Alex Holmes's emphasis on 'customer experience.' he discussed some of the improvements that the company made to its ability for agents to more easily communicate, and believes this will be one differentiator between MoneyGram and its competitors.
Listening to him talk about the importance and focus on customers reminded me of Ripple's uncompromising emphasis on quality and cutting edge software; my guess is that the culture of the two companies will match up nicely in the long run. Even though the partnership is only at the beginning stages, I'm very excited and enthusiastic about the possibilities that lie ahead for the joint enterprise.
SBI: Interview with Tomohiro Yamaguchi
The public face of SBI Holdings has consistently been its CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao. Like any large corporation or business, however, other executives will sometimes step in and conduct interviews, especially in coordination with other important announcements.
Such was the case on August 1หขแต, when Tomohiro Yamaguchi, an Executive Managing Director at SBI sat down with ChainTalk, a YouTube channel that focuses on blockchain topics, including cryptocurrency:
ChainTalk asked him about his professional background as a starting point, and Tomohiro Yamaguchi responded by sharing some of his own history, along with that of SBI's. He also talked about how xCurrent was reducing costs for SBI's remittance business.
What struck me as the most fascinating point, however, was that Tomohiro Yamaguchi consistently brought up the importance of linking successful business ventures with positively changing society. He mentioned this on more than one occasion:
Question (ChainTalk): "... ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ... ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ, ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ?"
Answer (Tomohiro Yamaguchi): "๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ... ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ'๐ด ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ด.
... ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ข ... ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด.
๐๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ช๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ."
He tempered these words with an emphasis on how important compliance was to the entire process, and then covered additional topics, including competition, bank adoption, and his perspective on decentralization trends.
Unlike many 'softball' mainstream media interviews, this one by ChainTalk asked the tough questions, and covered the important topics that XRP traders and long-term holders want to hear. I recommend spending some time watching this half-hour video.
UBRI Analysis
The University Blockchain Research Initiative, or UBRI for short, is Ripple's investment program for post-secondary education. The initiative's goal is to:
"๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด."
To this end, Ripple has provided financial support to thirty-three colleges and universities worldwide, including two recent additions, Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo.
To elaborate on each of these initiatives, one XRP fan, @crypto_deus (XRPChat and Reddit avatar), decided to dive in and research how each of these initiatives is contributing to the original goal for the UBRI:
In the post, @crypto_deus looks at each instance of a UBRI donation, and then analyzes some of the specific program updates or curriculum additions that have resulted from the initiative. It's a detailed and thorough analysis about each individual member of the UBRI, and I'm sure that some XRP stakeholders that have careers in post-secondary education will be interested to learn a bit more.
XRP News
The XRP Ledger does not subscribe to incentives for validator operators. Instead, the only incentive is for stakeholders in XRP to run their own validators for purposes of making the network stronger. These stakeholders include businesses that use XRP, or that own a material amount of XRP.
This approach - not using incentives - is predicated on the observation that most monetary rewards will eventually result, unfortunately, in a centralized end-state of the network. This concept is discussed at length in a blog written by David Schwartz, Ripple's Chief Technology Officer.
Typically, businesses that use XRP in their business or application are motivated to run a validator for practical reasons as well, such as the ability to manage the nature of all of their own connections to the XRP Ledger. Sometimes the two 'public servers' that Ripple runs become overwhelmed by network requests, and its wise to access the network through a separate means. This is accomplished if the same business decides to operate its own XRP validator to reach the network.
On July 31หขแต, both Omni and Coinfield, two very different businesses that use XRP, decided to run their own validator:
Coinfield is an exchange based in Canada, and Omni is a start-up company based in California that allows people to rent out their personal property.
It's great that both Coinfield and Omni are running their own validator, as it allows each of these organizations to handle their business in the most efficient manner; by pointing their platforms to their own servers instead of being dependent on the availability of the two public servers that Ripple runs. Kudos to both of these businesses, and hopefully their decision is the first wave in a trend of stakeholder 'XRP' - related businesses running XRP validators.
CEX
CEX is a UK-based exchange platform established in 2013, and the team boasts that their customer rolls exceed one million users.
On July 30แตสฐ, the team announced that they'd added an XRP/GBP pairing to the exchange, which provides an additional GBP on-ramp for those in the UK looking to trade their fiat money for crypto - and for XRP, specifically.
It's good to see another UK exchange support XRP trading, as it will deepen the potential liquidity pools for an important market.
DOBI
DOBI is the name of a relatively new Chinese-based exchange that has decided to specialize in two niche areas of crypto trading: ATMs and wearables.
While we've heard quite a bit over the years about the potential importance of convenient ATMs across various areas, and their potential for taking crypto adoption beyond its previous boundaries, the concept of crypto 'wearables' is new to me. On August 4แตสฐ, the company announced that they'd be supporting XRP pairings on their exchange.
It's not clear if DOBI adds support for all products for a 'newly-supported crypto' or if it focuses on what's offered in its ATMs; in any case, it's good news for XRP, as the team indicated that they'd be adding two currency pairings: XRP-BTC and XRP-USDT.
Scale to the Future
The digital asset that can support trillions of transactions per second is the one that will be used the most worldwide.
XRP is this digital asset, because it possesses all of the technologies necessary to achieve scalability; its ecosystem of technologies, such as Interledger, Coil, and Codius, all work together to make this happen, and they are just getting started.
Keep up to date on XRP and all of the crypto news impacting its adoption and use by subscribing to my blog on Coil; and remember to support others in the XRP Community as well!
Art: Thanks to NASA (globe) and Rui Matayoshi (cover)