Expansion.

There are two ways to accomplish it in the world of big business, and especially in the fast-moving world of high-tech that used to be solely represented by companies in Silicon Valley, California:

• Organic Growth
• Business Deals

'Organic Growth' is a term I'd use to describe how businesses want to grow their market share from the ground-up, convincing customers that their choice or product is superior to others in the marketplace. This is the tact taken by small businesses, usually, and also businesses that seem to have an innovation or idea that offers a unique advantage.

An example of a company pursuing 'organic growth' is SendFriend.

SendFriend is using technology and it's own approaches to build a payment network, starting with specific corridors and money transmitter licenses.

'Business Deals' include almost anything; the term can include an alliance, an investment, a partnership, or even more dramatically, a merger or acquisition of a company. Business deals can provide a convenient way for the initiating organization to achieve growth or change in a way that would otherwise take a much longer period of time if done 'organically.'

For years, Ripple managed itself, and grew its business purely organically, carefully, and with laser focus, creating the tools necessary to process payments better than anybody else in the world. It pioneered real-time settlement with a passion that was unmatched by any other business or organization on the planet, and Ripple has now claimed its rightful place as the foremost expert organization in payments.

But that's not good enough for its leaders.

Ripple, and many of its ex-pat founders and employees, know that there is inertia in the market. There is fierce protectionist practices put in place by major players in high finance; the chief among them being the money center banks around the world.

To overcome industry inertia, and to help jump-start the Internet of Value - the vision of one of Ripple's founders, Chris Larsen - they are now opting to fuel their quest with new business deals. In the past two weeks alone, we've seen the headlines:

• MoneyGram (Ripple)
• Imgur (Coil)

The conclusion? It's on... the race has started, and Ripple has no intention of giving up its momentum or top spot; they are the best at payments, and are aiming to solidify that position with an overwhelming competitive advantage. They are already experts in the most cutting-edge tools that will be used to transform the next phase of the Internet; and now they are proceeding to take the tangible steps to solidify that leadership position.

Ripple News

Cheddar, an Internet-based news site covering a variety of business and tech news, conducted a quick interview with the CEO of MoneyGram, Alex Holmes, on June 27th:

The short segment saw him provide a few quotable soundbites about the new partnership with Ripple, including:

"I think it's going to show, that, from a platform perspective, xRapid and XRP as an asset, is the absolute right one to use for settlement purposes; and it should, I think, if done well, is going to enable others that want to jump on board and participate as well.

Because I think it's a little of the 'chicken and the egg;' we have the liquidity. We don't have the speed and the back-end processes ... I think it's going to be the perfect marriage, and I think it's going to be a great opportunity to show the world what we can do together."

The quotes provided a nice summary of the win-win nature of the relationship, and I sense that the investment by Ripple may be a critical turning point for the company, as it will be able to lower its payment processing costs while at the same time moving its technology architecture into the modern era of blockchain-based payments.

Thanks to @Dillon (Twitter avatar) for publishing an excerpt of the interview.

Future of Fintech Conference

The Future of Fintech Conference took place on June 12th in New York City, New York, and included an interview of David Schwartz, Ripple's Chief Technology Officer, by Jeff Roberts of Fortune Magazine:

It was a great half-hour interview, and provided David Schwartz with enough time to provide some great responses to Jeff Roberts's questions. He first asked David Schwartz about XRP and its use in xRapid, and David Schwartz responded with how Ripple goes-to-market with its liquidity-sourcing solution:

Answer (David Schwartz): "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘹𝘙𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 ... 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨. ... 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 (𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦) ... 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴, 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 ... 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳, 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥-𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯.

𝘹𝘙𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴: 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘦 ... 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦-𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘟𝘙𝘗 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘟𝘙𝘗 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦."

Then later, Jeff Roberts asks David Schwartz about his outlook on other blockchain projects:

Question (Jeff Roberts): "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨; 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬; 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭 ...? 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨?"

Answer (David Schwartz): "𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘺'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 '𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦' 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘨. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘴𝘦. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩.

... 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 micropayments.
𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 ... 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴."

This last discussion point was one of my favorites, because, essentially, I think he's right. Micropayments, at a packet level, will most likely be how money flows in the future, and it is built on the very concepts of the Internet itself. The Interledger network makes it possible.

I highly recommend the entire interview for those that haven't watched it in its entirety already; other questions were also fascinating, and covered contemporary topics such as the Libra stablecoin project, and the lack of regulatory clarity here in the US.

Coil

On June 26th, Coil formally announced that they'd invested $20 million dollars in Imgur as part of a new deal to help Imgur monetize premium content on the site.

What Is Imgur?

If you've never used it, think of it as a convenient site that does one thing very well: It allows you to upload gifs or images, and then it hosts those images for you and provides the URL(s) to link to them on social media.

That's pretty much it, as far as my own experience goes.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm not disparaging the site whatsoever; in fact, it provides this service so flawlessly, that millions of people around the world use it every day. It has become, literally, a taken-for-granted staple for social media posters - including me. In addition to hosting this type of content, the site has also tried to differentiate itself from other competitors like Instagram by offering its own 'meme creation tools.'

My own experience with imgur.com began ... and continues with ... my Reddit posts. It seems to be the easiest platform to quickly load media files and share them on Reddit in the form of links; it's 'old-school,' but Imgur is literally the fastest, no-frills site that does the job.

Sure, other sites have been very popular over the years, but I've noticed that these other sites have been overrun with advertisements that actually interfere with the function of the site itself, or cover form entry boxes, literally forcing you to examine the advertisement, if for no other reason than to make it 'go away' so you can use the site for the reason you arrived there in the first place.

Imgur Acts To Preserve Its Leadership

The handwriting is on the wall.

Content creators are now very aware that they can be paid for their creative work on the web, and are quickly becoming attracted to these options ... options that allow them to freely create their own content, whether it be blogs, books, high-resolution art, videos, YouTube channels, games, contests, or memes.

Stefan Thomas was one among a short list of web developer visionaries to see and accurately predict the potential behind web monetization, and he went all-in on Coil, a company whose sole mission it is to enable web monetization, using micropayments.

Coil isn't just a 'blog platform,' although that's quickly becoming what it's known for, based on its website at coil.com. There, at their official site, users can do two things after creating their (free) account:

• Buy a Coil subscription
• Create content on coil.com

This is a wondrous option for many artists, because sometimes money is tight; to start with, creators of content don't even need to purchase a subscription, although at $5 per subscription, that option should be within range of most in the developed world.

Coil.com is still considered in its 'beta' release period, but even so, thousands of posts and many content creators have already flooded the site with premium content, making a Coil subscription very tempting for most. In addition, Coil remunerates artists in XRP, the digital asset, meaning that it can be paid out successfully to anybody, no matter their geographic location.

The artist can then trade XRP for necessities directly using a payment processor, or even trade it for fiat currency if they wish, at a crypto exchange within their jurisdiction. Thus is the magic of using cryptocurrency for international payments.

So where does Imgur fit?

According to the news release and TechCrunch article, the plan is for Imgur to use Coil's web monetization to create a way for its posters to be rewarded for original content. The Imgur platform will launch a new premium membership with exclusive content for Coil subscribers. Alan Schaaf, the CEO and Founder of Imgur, said:

"Everything from the way we operate as a team to the ways in which we partner with brands is built around this core value of giving to the community.

Coil's technology will open up new opportunities for users to give to one another and support the community in new ways."

If the plan works, it could result in a profound boost to the variety and quality of the content found on Imgur.

The Money Trail

Yes, Stefan Thomas is a 'Bitcoin OG', or 'Original Gangsta' in Internet parlance. He was among some of the first entrepreneurs and developers to jump with both feet into the innovations of decentralized coding, and he subsequently became Ripple's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for a number of years before leaving to found Coil.

But he's not using his own personal Bitcoin or XRP 'mad money' for this latest investment in Imgur; instead, some of Ripple's investment in Coil is now being used to invest in imgur, according to TechCrunch.

My Evaluation

The deal is a superb investment and partnership, by both Stefan Thomas and Alan Schaaf.

The integration of Coil payments will allow Imgur to supercharge the creativity of its members and posters as part of its premium service, and those with Coil subscriptions will be able to access compelling content from these 'paid' creators. It's a deal that shows a sort of prescience of how the Internet is changing, and Coil is leading the charge.

Not only do I think this deal is a fantastic win for Coil, I think it's a fantastic win for web content monetization, generally. If anything, I think Ripple should strongly consider doing more of these sorts of deals on Coil's behalf, because as the wave of content monetization starts to grip the Internet and the world, they could easily be on the forefront, and use this momentum to catapult XRP forward with a massive, unplanned-for use case.

Kudos to both Coil and Imgur on a fantastic new partnership!

XRP News

The XRPL Labs Team traveled to Zug, Switzerland, to present at the 2019 Crypto Valley Conference, which took place from June 24th through June 26th. Wietse Wind, the creator of the XRP Tip Bot, and the founder of XRPL Labs, was slated to speak at the conference in a main-stage session titled 'Cross-Border Payments:'

Wietse Wind indicated that he provided a 30-minute presentation about a set of five topics, where he slowly built up to a new idea he wanted to communicate, called 'Compliance As A Service:'

• Why the XRP ledger (features)
• Why really great for x-border payments
• What we're building (Xumm, thanks to Xpring funding)
• Regulation & It's Impact on Development
• Compliance as a service

Regarding the idea of 'Compliance as a Service,' he indicated:

"There are blockchain developers, plenty of good projects, there's enough money and funding: if governments, regulators and businesses put their heads together, (they can create) a framework & API's so blockchain developers and startups can plug in and automate their KYC, AML, transaction scanning, etc.

I think we can boost the innovation."

It's great to see Wietse Wind presenting at this conference and others; my guess is that his perspective as one of the foremost developers to arise from the XRP Community will garner him multiple invitations to future events as well. Kudos to Wietse Wind and the entire XRPL Labs team, and hopefully we can see some of the conference video when it's officially released.

Q2 2019 XRP Report

While Ripple may publish its quarterly 'XRP Markets Report,' the XRP Community also has its own version, authored by the creator of one of the most popular fan sites, 'XRP Arcade.'

Leonidas Hadjiloizou first published his quarterly report starting with the Q4 2018 Report, and wrote another one for the first quarter of 2019, published on April 1st. In that report, he compared some fascinating statistics from quarter-to-quarter, including the raw number of 'news items' for each time period.

On June 27th, a few days early, he published his comprehensive Q2 2019 XRP Report:

This quarterly report provided point-by-point coverage of each news item during the quarter, as well as a data analysis of the type of news items, and Leonidas's own analysis of other XRP developments, such as network decentralization, payment volumes, and burn rate. Even though the raw number of news items is slightly less than the first quarter of 2019, the significance of the news items was profound in the second quarter, and he spent some time talking about the latest development with MoneyGram in his article summary.

If you haven't already perused Leonidas's quarterly XRP reports, I urge you to give this latest one a few minutes of your time; it's also fantastic material to share with others that may be curious about the latest news surrounding XRP.

Bitrue Hack

Bitrue, the Singapore-based exchange that was among the first to utilize XRP as one of its 'base' currencies, suffered a hacking attempt on June 26th.

The strange events that alerted the community included various individuals that were having trouble with account balances and withdrawals, and then a sudden shutdown of the exchange with some general statements by the CEO and others that it was due to 'maintenance.'

Early on the morning of the next day, the official Bitrue Twitter account sent out the following communication:

"𝘖𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘖𝘯 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 27 2019

𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘜𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭, 100% 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

𝘈𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 1𝘢𝘮 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 27 (𝘎𝘔𝘛+8), 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮'𝘴 2𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 90 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 9.3 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘟𝘙𝘗 𝘢𝘯𝘥 2.5 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘋𝘈 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 @𝘏𝘶𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭, @𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘹𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 @𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘕𝘖𝘞_𝘪𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴.

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴.

𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.

𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘯 & 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 - 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘱.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘳/𝘳𝘸𝘚𝘷𝘢𝘫𝘑4𝘡𝘕𝘩𝘫𝘨𝘻𝘤𝘧𝘢𝘑𝘞𝘬𝘌𝘶𝘓𝘩4𝘝𝘜𝘙𝘛𝘍𝘏𝘶𝘬𝘢. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵@𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦.𝘤𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘔 𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, @𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘖𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭"

And then, approximately two hours later, the exchange sent out the following statement using the same Twitter thread:

"𝘜𝘗𝘋𝘈𝘛𝘌: 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘯 & 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦. 𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴."

For customers, it was an ideal resolution to the situation, of course, but to the exchange, it was an unfortunate scrape with the dangers of hacking and digital asset thefts.

Overall, however, the exchange received a positive response based on how quickly they reacted and then made their customers whole; compared to other central exchange thefts, it was an outstanding recovery by the growing, Singapore-based exchange.

For those of us in the XRP Community, the resumption of business at Bitrue was a welcome relief, as this is one exchange that has been a rock-solid supporter of the XRP Community from its very beginnings in mid-2018.

Exchainpay Exchange

Exchainpay is an exchange based in Delhi, India.

The exchange offers a number of markets using both the Indian Rupee (INR) and the stablecoin 'True USD.' The exchange offers what it labels as a 'P2P Network.' On June 25th, the platform announced that they would be supporting trading of XRP as well.

It's great to have one more additional choice for those living in India; the Indian market is a massive one, and my guess is there are many in that country that wish to purchase and hold XRP.

Thanks to Leonidas Hadjiloizou for the notification about Exchainpay.

Expansion In Progress

The latest news stories are just the beginning of the advent of the new age, the 'Internet of Value.'

To stay apprised on the news items around XRP and its ecosystem of technology innovations, subscribe to my blog on Coil. And if you're an XRP owner or fan, you should purchase a $5 dollar Coil subscription for premium content.

A Coil subscription helps power the continued take-back of the Internet, and it uses XRP to reward content creators across the globe.

Cover Art: Thank you to Sam Wheeler