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 5ᵗʰ, 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:

"𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺; 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴...

𝘐𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴; 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬-𝘵𝘰-𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬; 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘴. 𝘖𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵-𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨."

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:

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴"

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:

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴' 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘥-𝘵𝘰-𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦-𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘶𝘣𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦:

• 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 $25,000 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 (𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴) 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 24𝘹7𝘹365 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴
• 𝘚𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴’ 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥-𝘰𝘧-𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬
• 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 24𝘹7𝘹365 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴
• 𝘈𝘥𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘚𝘖® 20022 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘦® 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴
• 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬"

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 1ˢᵗ, 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:

"𝘙𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴-𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 ...

𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘲𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭!"

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 1ˢᵗ, 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): "... 𝘚𝘞𝘐𝘍𝘛 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 ... 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘙𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘈𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘙𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦'𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥?"

Answer (Tomohiro Yamaguchi): "𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘞𝘐𝘍𝘛, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 ... 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬'𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴.

... 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 ... 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴.

𝘐𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴, 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯."

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:

"𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴."

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 31ˢᵗ, 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 30ᵗʰ, 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 4ᵗʰ, 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)