When the entire market exhibits unintelligible patterns and volatility, it's important for crypto owners to determine the significance, and, even casually, evaluate their position. Cryptomarket movements, even if they remain primarily driven from a standpoint of speculation than any solid use case, will give rise to unease among traders that are attempting to divine future price levels.

For myself - and many others that recognize the difference between 'technical analysis' and 'fundamental analysis' - the obvious and overwhelming advantages of XRP provide important and tangible reference points.

XRP has the strongest championing organization in crypto, and Ripple has poured investment into building the most robust ecosystem for the one digital asset designed for payments: XRP. Ripple - and its founders and employees - are very motivated to do so. All you have to do is examine how much Ripple's value falls and rises along with the fortunes of the digital asset they're holding, along with that of its founders, and you start to understand just what's at stake.

The market may be acting irrationally on occasion, but history is quite clear about what will happen when a massive gap in fundamental value develops over time between two investment choices in the same market.

Its first-mover advantage will only go so far for Bitcoin; the first try at a new technology has never proven to be the best.

General Crypto News

The Bank of International Settlements, or BIS, is an umbrella organization that is owned and operated by 60 central banks from around the world. ยน ยฒ They have conducted in-depth research on blockchain, DLT, central bank-issued digital currencies, and even the security weaknesses of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies.

On June 23สณแตˆ, the organization released 'part 3' of their 'BIS Annual Economic Report,' which contained a total of three sections.

Part 3 was titled 'Big Tech in Finance: Opportunities and Risks,' which was a section that drew keen interest, especially given Facebook's publication of their Libra whitepaper just days earlier. In fact, I found it to be strangely contemporaneous, given the research time required for papers that BIS publishes. Their annual report even contains references to 'Libra.'

Regardless of whether they had foreknowledge of Facebook's plans, their document went into great detail analyzing the entry of technology giants into what were traditionally bank-run financial services.

BIS Paper Strong Points

Some analysts incorrectly restrict their focus to only Western-based financial services companies, banks, and trends, but the BIS paper wisely included several Asian conglomerates that have grown to enormous size, such as Alibaba, Grab, and Tencent.

This focus on Asian big tech is a wise move, especially given their massive - and quickly growing - amount of application and business adoption:

BIS Asian Influence

The paper also correctly divides the payment processors into two categories:

  1. Those processors that use traditional banking
  2. Those processors that settle only with app users (closed-loop)

The first category - those applications that utilize traditional banking - include such names as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal. The second category - the closed-loop entrants - include Alipay, M-Pesa, and WePay. Regardless, however, the paper made the point that:

"๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ด' ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด. ๐˜๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜บ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ...

... ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต/๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ.

... ๐˜›๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด, ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ."

This quote and observation points so squarely at Ripple's effort to replace the world's existing payment processing that a reference to the company was almost conspicuous in its absence.

The other insights contained in the paper included the observation of what types of services these big techs are ideally positioned to offer, that would compete with traditional players. The paper called out two areas specifically:

  • Insurance Products
  • Lines of Credit

Essentially, these two examples represent any financial product that requires 'knowing the customer' at a level much deeper than that afforded by KYC or traditional credit services. The paper mentioned that some big techs offering lines of credit are much better judges of the finances of individuals, using proprietary data sets that sometimes run into the hundreds of variables.

My Take

The report then spent time talking about what type of risks are associated with big tech getting into traditional finance, and provided these three key takeaways:

  1. The entry of large technology firms ("big techs") into financial services holds the promise of efficiency gains and can enhance financial inclusion.
  2. Regulators need to ensure a level playing field between big techs and banks, taking into account big techs' wide customer base, access to information and broad-ranging business models.
  3. Big techs' entry presents new and complex trade-offs between financial stability, competition and data protection.

My interpretation of this document is that BIS was tipped off as to the future direction of some of these tech giants, especially given Facebook's Libra whitepaper. I believe the advance notice was enough for BIS to conduct research about the potential global influence, impact, and risks to create a recommended policy or approach paper, which is how I'd classify part 3 of their annual report.

Bottom line? It's good for Ripple, and good for XRP.

The report correctly identified that the big techs are still dependent on the limitations of the current, batch-based, correspondent-banking network that still handles the majority of the cross-border and inter-bank settlement: These limitations are the very problem that Ripple solves with its software and the use of XRP for real-time settlement.

Binance.US

One of the biggest news stories of the last few days was Catherine Coley's new job.

Catherine Coley was Ripple's 'Head of XRP Institutional Liquidity,' and has been helping Ripple grow XRP's liquidity for a while now; you may not know this, but she was the very first person Reinhard Cate interviewed as part of the 'Ripple Drop' series of videos.

Is Binance.US the Same as Binance?

During the same time frame that Catherine Coley was helping Ripple, Binance, with the leadership of its Founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, or 'CZ' as he's known in the digital assets market, was growing quickly, and achieved a number one ranking on Coinmarketcap based on adjusted volume.

And now, in 2019, Binance is looking to expand, and founded a new company or subsidiary known as 'Binance.US.' However, Binance.US is not owned directly by CZ, and he indicated that his partner in the deal, BAM Trading Services, a fintech company based in San Francisco, would have complete control over the US exchange:

โ€œ๐˜‰๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ. ๐˜š๐˜ฐ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜‰๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด. ๐˜š๐˜ฐ, ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜บ, ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ (๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ). ๐˜ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ตโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜‰๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ.โ€

Although he was careful to draw this distinction, even noting that his 'SAFU' fund doesn't cover this new US enterprise, it's worth noting that he extended the use of Binance's name and technology, so it goes a long way towards conveying confidence to US traders that have come to trust the Binance name. ยณ โด

New CEO

On July 2โฟแตˆ, BAM Trading Services, the operator of Binance.US, officially announced that Catherine Coley would be the new CEO of Binance.US:

BAM Trading Services

The warm wishes and communications came pouring in from her Ripple compatriots, and Brad Garlinghouse also congratulated her the same day.

In the blog announcement from BAM Trading Services, she offered her perspective:

โ€œ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜‰๐˜ˆ๐˜” ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜‰๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.๐˜œ๐˜š ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ข ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜‰๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ฌ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ฌ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜œ.๐˜š.โ€

The XRP Community, of course, viewed this as good news, because of Binance's history. Binance quickly rose to the top of the exchange rankings, and CZ knows how to successfully compete for customers and gain market share quickly.

In addition, there has been quite a bit of speculation about whether a US-based exchange for Binance might result in Ripple and Binance.US forming a partnership as part of Ripple's xRapid solution. The xRapid solution is Ripple's dynamic liquidity-sourcing product that includes real-time settlement using XRP.

Many onlookers have already been peppering her with questions, but these types of developments take time before results are achieved; for now, I'll just wish Catherine Cooley congratulations, and hopefully this will mean big things for Binance.US - and also XRP.

Ripple News

You may have missed it, but Xpring, Ripple's initiative to stimulate growth of the entire ecosystem of businesses and capabilities around the XRP Ledger, celebrated its first birthday.

Xpring was announced on May 14แต—สฐ, 2018, parallel to the announcement of Ethan Beard's appointment as its SVP.

In that first announcement, we learned of investments already-in-progress: Scooter Braun (SB Projects), Stefan Thomas (Coil), Thomas McLeod (Omni), and Bart & Brad Stephens (Blockchain Capital).

Now, over one year later, Ethan Beard penned a blog that serves as a public-facing status report on Xpring, providing insight into his perspective on its accomplishments, and even more importantly, on its changing future direction.

Xpring Planting Seeds

Not all of Xpring's investments should be viewed as equals alongside each other - each one has a unique focus, goal, and of course, amount of investment behind it. But the themes behind these investments are quite clear, and I've blogged in the past about how, even though Xpring's focus may not be apparent beyond its initially-stated goal to support entrepreneurs who are using XRP to 'solve their customers' problems in a transformative way,' Ripple is obviously pursuing monetization technology.

At the time of my analysis, most of Ripple's focus with Xpring seemed like a well-coordinated attempt to access new markets in social applications, gaming, music, and entertainment. However, with his latest blog, Ethan Beard was quite clear about the focus.

Without actually referencing 'micropayments,' he talks about

'... ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ฌ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ด.'

The reference was general enough to include a number of Xpring investments, which he listed, but Coil is the obvious front-runner in that list, having gone live already with its blogging and content monetization platform.

Ethan Beard also referenced Bolt Labs, Securitize, Dharma, and XRPL Labs too, as a segue to his conclusion.

Decentralized Finance

His conclusion included the future focus of Xpring along three distinct tracts of funding:

  • XRP Ledger
  • Interoperability
  • Decentralized Finance

Xpring's historical focus has been around the first two, so the inclusion of 'decentralized finance' is very important. Given Ripple's ability - and inclination - to follow-through on investments to quickly build market presence and share, separately listing 'decentralized finance' demands analysis.

Consider the fact that, for the past year, this category has not been given an equivalent amount of attention and focus as ILP and XRP Ledger development tools and resources. There were mentions of a Codius reboot, but not much in the way of public-facing progress.

Given that Ethan Beard has specifically called out decentralized finance, it's evidence that Ripple believes this market is important to its goals, and is important for the growth of the ecosystem around XRP. What does this mean? Ethan Beard lists off the possibilities:

  • debt
  • derivatives
  • stablecoins
  • synthetic assets

This market - including derivatives - hints at a potential smart contract angle, but it's not certain. Some of these areas could be handled by XRP's native capabilities, such as stablecoins and debt, but I have a feeling that the items listed go far beyond 'just blockchain' and may include several key layered technologies, including smart contracts.

The size of the potential market behind these items is enormous, especially if new types could be unlocked.

Derivative markets are larger than ForEx; various experts put the size of the entire derivatives market somewhere between 542 trillion and 1,200 trillion. โต โถ

Xpring's Investments are Key

Investment is one of the major reasons, in addition to its amazing performance statistics, that XRP will dominate when it comes to real business utility of digital assets.

Xpring continues to lay the critical groundwork for massive new use cases for XRP and digital assets generally; these investments, while providing reference points about Ripple's overall strategy, will start to bear fruit even in 2019; we've seen only the first glimmers of this with Coil.

To arrive at XRP's trajectory, an important activity will be for the XRP Community to follow Xpring developments in the coming months.

New XRP Ledger Explorer

XRP Ledger explorers are very much subject to personal taste and preferences.

Following XRP for years, one of the earliest explorers was an impressive graphical-based chart at 'XRPCharts' that presents a hub-and-spoke visualization of wallets. It also serves up a history of transactions and account balances at the bottom, where users can 'drill down' for more transaction-specific information. Its listing of payment details is still one of the most popular.

In addition to this early entrant, other explorers like XRP Scan have been created by XRP Community developers, along with one of the most popular third-party tools, the Bithomp Explorer. Wietse Wind also has a wallet explorer at 'The Ledger Exposed,' his popular website for XRP Ledger statistics.

To add to the mix, on July 3สณแตˆ, Ripple announced that they'd created and released an XRP Ledger explorer as well, on a new domain:

Warren Paul Anderson Tweet about new explorer

The new explorer provides a default visualization on its landing page that is unique among the options, showing a left-to-right scrolling marquee of ledger closings:

XRP Explorer Screenshot

The site's individual wallet explorer shows basic transaction information in a bare-bones display, but then after a user clicks and drills-down on a transaction, a rich user interface appears with three tabs, where a researcher can see the transaction information in one of three formats, 'simple,' 'detailed,' and 'raw:'

eTotor message

It's a welcome addition to the ecosystem of XRP Ledger explorers, and it marks the second one that Ripple has formally created over the years, in addition to a wide variety of individual tools that do the task on a piece-meal basis.

If you haven't already taken a look at the new explorer, I advise you to do so; also try out their visualization of the entire network, displayed against a world map. Developers, as well as those handling custody of their own XRP, will appreciate that they also have an explorer purely devoted to the Test Net as well: https://testnet.xrpl.org/

Kudos to Warren Paul Anderson and the team that helped him build the new explorer. It's great to see the variety of tools and resources accumulating for developers to use at XRPL.org.

Coil

If you are a developer who likes to get their hands dirty with actual coding, or are a person that 'learns by doing,' then you may want to take a shot at generating your own payment pointer.

A payment pointer is a way that the Interledger network identifies a payment recipient, similar to how an email address identifies somebody uniquely. It's a core concept of ILP, and a payment pointer can be:

"... ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ '๐˜ฉ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฑ๐˜ด' ๐˜œ๐˜™๐˜“ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ข ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ."

Coil uses payment pointers as a technique of rewarding content creators, although the payment pointer itself exists outside of Coil, as a distinct component of the Interledger architecture. Both Coil and the XRP Tip Bot will generate payment pointers for end-users if they wish.

For those that want to generate their own payment pointer, one of the best references to consult is that provided by Wietse Wind:

Wietse Wind Tweet

The thread referenced also includes some additional tips by both Wietse Wind and by @Solstice_Info (Twitter avatar) about how to further utilize the payment pointer, and how to trouble-shoot the implementation of specific JavaScript components.

XRP News

In response to a tweet from @EDadoun (Twitter account), Wietse Wind replied back with a sneak preview of some Xumm screenshots:

Xumm screenshots from Wietse Wind

Xumm is the front-end platform for allowing individuals to securely manage their XRP using one application; it allows other developers, stakeholders, and businesses to integrate and interact with users through an API-based design and architecture. Wietse elaborated in a subsequent tweet:

"๐˜ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ & ๐˜ˆ๐˜—๐˜, ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด (๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด). ๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ / ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด (๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜Ÿ๐˜™๐˜—๐˜“ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ด)"

For those that wish to learn more about Xumm, click here: Introduction to Xumm

For now, it's great to get some of these 'sneak previews' of one of the most-anticipated end-user applications for those that manage their own XRP.

XRP Tip Bot Statistics

Speaking of Wietse Wind, one of his most-beloved applications is the XRP Tip Bot, which he continues to manage as an independent project outside the scope of XRPL Labs.

It's one of the most popular crypto applications, and is among the top XRP applications when it comes to user base.

On July 4แต—สฐ, Nixer (Twitter avatar) published the most recent tipping statistics for people that are curious about how much is tipped, and who is doing the most tipping:

Nixer Statistics Twitter

In addition, his statistics site will also indicate who are the 'biggest receivers of tips' and provide account-specific details for individual users of the XRP Tip Bot.

If you haven't had a chance to use Nixer's application for accessing XRP Tip Bot account information or his fascinating statistics, you are missing out.

Here is the direct link to his site: https://xrptipbot-statistics.siedentopf.xyz/userstatistics

Thanks Nixer for building this fun XRP Community site using XRP Tip Bot APIs!

Keep Focused On Fundamental Value

As 2019 marches forward, it's wise to keep focused on the fundamental value of digital assets. While the whole space is expanding - and fast - history has shown that, for technology especially, the companies and products with intrinsic utility and value are the ones that will outpace even the choices with a first-mover advantage.

To keep apprised of the news related to XRP's continued adoption progress and market expansion, subscribe to my blog on Coil to get the latest updates.

Also, please consider supporting other XRP Community members, and help spread the word about the best digital asset on the planet!

XRP-Symbol-VERYSMALL-1

Sources and Credits:

Cover Art: Thank you to Mattias Diesel

  1. https://www.bis.org/about/member_cb.htm
  2. https://www.bis.org/about/index.htm
  3. https://ambcrypto.com/changpeng-zhao-will-not-hold-any-legal-title-or-play-any-operational-role-in-binance-us/
  4. https://www.binance.com/en/blog/346119082624540672/Binance-Announces-Partnership-with-BAM-to-Launch-US-Exchange
  5. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/052715/how-big-derivatives-market.asp
  6. https://www.quora.com/How-big-is-the-derivatives-market-in-dollars-globally