Let me make some assumptions about you. Permit me some latitude; you'll see where I'm going in a minute.
You discovered XRP's performance metrics, features, and champion organizations after stumbling upon it due to something you saw on social media, or perhaps heard from a friend. Once you did, you realized that it was superior - in every capacity except daily trade volume - than Bitcoin. You then began to do your own research and found out more unbiased information about how Ripple's software solutions will utilize XRP 'at scale' for settlement of cross-border payments.
And then it grew even more unbelievable; you learned about the massive alternative use cases of micropayments, web monetization, and smart contracts. You explored Coil's technology for web content monetization and were able to apprehend what this might mean for adoption of digital assets and XRP.
And interoperability?
When David Schwartz mentioned making the 'pie bigger for everybody,' you understood and nodded inwardly. 'That is big picture thinking,' you may have murmured to yourself.
I know I did.
But what happens to these rock-solid beliefs in the Internet of Value when the market gyrates and reveals its unpredictable nature?
It's enough to shake some people's confidence and make them question their conclusions.
But when it comes to the Internet of Value, my confidence is unshakable. The vision leaders in charge of Ripple, Coil, Forte, Cinnamon, Omni, Rise, XRPL Labs, and others are at the threshold of seeing the first wave of true IoV applications emerge from developers' imaginations. We've seen the monumental business deals that have added enormous momentum to both web monetization and cross-border payments.
We know the people and leaders that are a part of this, and we know that they have an enormous personal - and professional - stake in championing the Internet of Value.
But most of all, facts are on our side now. We know that xRapid payment flows are increasing; we know that Ripple is planning on opening new corridors to South America, which will grow xRapid to new heights. Coil is working with Imgur, Cinnamon, and Puma to pioneer web monetization. RISE, along with prominent entertainment moguls, is working to establish how monetization will integrate within the music industry.
And that's an abbreviated list of business deals and efforts that are ongoing.
Do not waver.
Do not doubt.
XRP and the Internet of Value are now visible on the horizon.
General Crypto News
One of the 'missing links' in blockchain technology is a collection of companies that aim to specialize in assisting organizations with AML.
Some teams - and individuals - noted this gap early on, and sought out their niche role in tracking blockchain transactions; but 'AML' is a bit different and less straightforward than managing and verifying identity. As of 2017, there were approximately twenty companies that were attempting to provide identity management and authentication services related to a blockchain. When it comes to anti-money laundering (AML), the participants are less clear; because AML is a continual process and not a result. To conduct AML procedures, it's not enough to call an API that provides identity services; instead, algorithms and people must continually review transaction samples in an attempt to identify suspicious transfers.
Over time, however, some companies have emerged that purport to provide these services for organizations that interact with digital assets. These 'AML companies' must identify account holders and single out suspicious transactions. In essence, they must do on a proactive basis what Thomas Silkjรฆr has done in response to fraudulent activity.
One of these new AML companies is 'Elliptic,' a company that recently conducted a 'Series B' financing round where it raised $23 million dollars.
Most of that amount was raised from SBI Holdings, but also in the mix was AlbionVC, SignalFire, Octopus Ventures, and Santander Innoventures. SBI Holdings received a seat on the company's board, in addition to their ownership interest.
The CEO of Elliptic, James Smith, provided his perspective on the new capital and business partners:
"๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ข ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ด๐ช๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฐ-๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ด."
This marks a series of extremely high-profile clients that the company has signed; the firm has also been contracted to develop monitoring services for Facebook's Libra stablecoin, as well as one or more Central Bank Digital Currencies.
The move was a smart one by SBI, and no doubt more contracts will arrive in the pipeline for Elliptic after this latest financing round. It also marks a consistent execution of SBI's plan for vertical integration of its presence in the cryptomarket, as detailed in their business plans.
Look for more companies to enter the market, especially now that the publicity around digital assets has prompted widespread and consistent interest and investment by banks and other traditional financial players.
Ripple News
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was established after World War II with the goal of helping governments manage their various national economies in conformance to global policies designed to:
"... ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ."
and
"... ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ-๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ."
Its membership includes thirty-six countries, heavily-weighted around Europe; this is what we'd expect to see, given its origins. However, the organization is aiming globally with its policies and leadership, and views its mission as reflecting a world-wide focus.
One year ago, we learned that the organization was actively investigating blockchain technology, and had sponsored a paper that summarized its findings about blockchain technology and corporate governance.
It was promising evidence of IoV progress on a global scale, as it mentioned Ripple and shone a spotlight on the Silicon Valley company as an example of how blockchain technology was being used to transform cross-border payments for banks and remittance processors.
It's obvious that the OECD knows which way the wind is blowing.
The organization is sponsoring a two-day meeting titled "OECD Policy Forum on Blockchain" in Paris, France on September 12แตสฐ and 13แตสฐ. Ripple is sending Liz Chien, their Vice President of Global Tax, Breanne Madigan, Ripple's Head of Global Institutional Markets, and Marjan Delatinne, Ripple's Global Head of Banking:
Ripple's three representatives will be participating in three distinct events during the two days:
- Breanne Madigan: Digital Financial Marketplaces: New developments and regulatory responses in primary and secondary markets
- Marjan Delatinne: Can Blockchain Technology Reduce the Costs of Remittances?
- Liz Chien: Tax and Blockchain: From tax administration to transparency and the tax treatment of digital financial assets
The Internet of Value requires its advocates to lead from the front, and the OECD's two-day conference signals that it understands that blockchain is the future for international finance; and more importantly for those of us that own XRP, they are looking closely at regulatory topics related to the new technology.
Specifically, the title of Liz Chien's panel, ' From tax administration to transparency and the tax treatment of digital financial assets,' indicates that the OECD's various member countries are all grappling with similar topics.
The OECD is an example of an international organization that global leadership depends upon to discover which direction to steer on complex topics. Blockchain technology and digital assets are no exception, and it is important to track what these organizations say on these topics. Their recommendations have the potential of impacting XRP's adoption for good or ill, so it's great to see Ripple engage with these groups on an active basis.
Kotak Mahindra
The second-largest private bank in India is Kotak Mahindra.
The company's headquarters is in the mega-city of Mumbai, on India's West Coast; it has over thirty thousand employees, and manages total assets of over $31 billion dollars.
In July of last year, we learned that the bank had joined RippleNet, the group of banks, remittance processors, and other organizations that comprise the new challenger group to the SWIFT network.
India is a major player in the remittance market, with somewhere around $69 billion dollars having been transmitted to the nation in 2017.
On June 12แตสฐ, CII-Tata Communication's Center for Digital Transformation (YouTube channel), published an interview with Deepak Sharma, the Chief Digital Officer for Kotak Mahindra:
Some of the noteworthy quotes from the interview include:
"๐๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆr๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต? ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต? ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ?
๐๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ.
๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฌ๐ด; ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ... ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ...
๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐.๐.๐. (๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต), ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด?
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ."
While the rest of the video was also important, as it details how Kotak Mahindra is addressing all technological disruption, it was this statement about 'disrupting' themselves that really made an impact on me. My hope is that other market-leading banks embrace new technology as well, and will provide resources for transforming themselves rather than waiting for increased competition from other early adopters.
Thanks to Steven Diep for the note about this newly-released interview.
Cl@b2019
Cl@b2019 is a conference sponsored by the Florida International Bankers Association and the Latin American Banking Federation. The conference takes place from October 7แตสฐ through the 9แตสฐ in Hollywood, Florida, on the East Coast of the state.
Henrique Teixeira, Ripple's Director of Strategic Relationships in the Americas, is scheduled to participate in a panel discussing 'Payment Innovations':
The conference organizers rescheduled the conference for early October due to Hurricane Dorian.
One thing I've noticed is that there's a lot of industry conferences for payments, generally, and even more for banking; it's great to see Ripple selecting some of the high-profile conferences to interface with the movers and shakers in finance. In the case of Cl@b2019, it's obvious that their selection of industry meetings is including those that pertain to both Latin and South America, which is one of their new target corridors for remittance payments.
Identitii
Identitii is an Australian company that seems laser-focused on one particular use case: The sharing of information that accompanies transactions. They (currently) have one platform called, un-apologetically, 'Overlay.' The name is quite descriptive, since their solution seems to 'overlay' the payment networks involved; their goal seems to be to allow parties to a transaction to view attached documents according to defined security requirements.
They are not a run-of-the-mill legacy company, however; they are embracing blockchain, and have pioneered the design of a solution that they believe assists with continual AML requirements. In addition, this solution includes the filing of a patent in the US: The name of the patent is "Computer Implemented Method for Processing a Financial Transaction and a System Therefor."
The patent goes to great lengths to describe a blockchain technology-based solution for integrating documents and payments, and includes no less than thirteen references to Ripple and XRP:
"[ 0207 ] ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต : ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ - ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ( ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ ) ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐บ : ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ 1023 ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ฑ๐ต."
It's great to see more patents with references to digital assets, and of course, Ripple; while patents are quite commonly filed as 'just in case' defensive measures, it's still very encouraging to see fintech businesses include references to the modern technology successor to the aging SWIFT banking network.
Money Tap
Money Tap is the product of SBI Ripple Asia, the organization created to oversee the joint venture by both Ripple and SBI Holdings.
The mobile application utilizes Ripple's xCurrent capabilities to transfer money in real time between domestic banks in Japan; it's one of the examples of how Ripple technology can be used for domestic payment processing as well as cross-border traffic.
The initial rollout of Money Tap was done with two banks, and on June 26แตสฐ of this year, that number was expanded to seven additional banks, including one 'mystery bank' that wasn't named in the announcement. Now, two months later, SBI formally announced that they'd added four more banks to the list of financial institutions that can be linked to the mobile application:
"... ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด (๐๐ธ๐ข ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ, ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ, ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ) ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ..."
The announcement also included a status report for implementing what SBI is calling their 'Fintech platform,' which has evidently been installed in five of the banks involved, and is pending in approximately ten other banks.
Money Tap is an important application, as it should handle a significant percentage of Japan's domestic payments; hopefully we'll see the application expand to include cross-border traffic as well.
Ripple Ramping up Regulatory Team
The largest and most vexing problem that Ripple must tackle with regards to long-term adoption of digital assets is achieving regulatory clarity.
In 2017, one banking attendee indicated that lack of regulatory clarity would prohibit her own bank from pioneering digital assets. That particular bank executive was reflecting the viewpoint of most of the other banking attendees as well, although many would like nothing better than to reduce their reliance on the legacy SWIFT correspondence banking network and its prohibitive costs.
Now, two years later, regulatory clarity has made some step-wise progress, but is still lacking in specific countries, particularly here in the West; the UK has clarified some regulations, and so has the US, but both of these countries must lead by example. Thus far, the US has been moving much more slowly than the industry would like, and was the location of push-back and skepticism related to Facebook's announcement of their Libra whitepaper.
Leaders here in the U.S. seem aware of the importance of keeping the country's leadership role in new technology, but there is still much work to be done.
Ripple Engaging with Lawmakers
On July 29แตสฐ, Ripple took out a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal that reminded the public - and the U.S. Congress - that 'digital assets' do not equate to Bitcoin; instead of judging digital assets based on past associations between Bitcoin and crime, the better option is to look at the industry as representing an entire set of new technology.
The one-page announcement, signed by both Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, certainly publicized Ripple's viewpoint.
Building on this, the company on September 3สณแต announced the hiring of Ron Hammond, a former US Treasury employee who also assisted with portions of the Token Taxonomy Act, sponsored by a number of US Congressmen and women:
The title of Ron Hammond's new role is 'Manager of Government Relations,' and he is obviously destined to work with Michelle Bond and Stuart Adelroty, Ripple's Global Head of Government Relations and General Counsel, respectively, on matters of regulation.
It was good to see Ripple ramping up the team and allocating more resources to this last, major challenge for the company.
Equilibrium
Equilibrium is a company based in Finland. According to its own site, it:
"... ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅโ๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด.
๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฃ."
The company received capital from Ripple's Xpring Initiative, and formal communications from both Ripple and Equilibrium were published on August 6แตสฐ. The scope of their services was described by Equilibrium to include:
- Open Source Interledger Connector
- Web Services
- On-boarding
Now just one month later, the company has published a "Guide To Interledger: Connecting Connectors Using HTTPS." The guide focuses in on configuring one connector to communicate directly to another one using HTTPS. It assumes that the reader already has one connector up-and-running.
The guide is definitely aimed at those with a working knowledge of the software involved in running an ILP connector, including Linux commands and Nginx. Otto Liuhtonen, Equilibrium's Editor, indicated that the next guide will cover how to set up 'moneyd' to the new connector.
It's great to see more resources now being published around the Interledger network and its technology; there are many in the XRP community that may want to delve a bit deeper into the code involved, and this guide does not disappoint.
Coil
One of the best interviews I've read recently is the one where Ian Jacobs posed questions to Stefan Thomas about Coil, Interledger, and web monetization. Ian Jacobs conducted the interview in June, and published it via the W3C's official site on September 3สณแต.
Here's a few questions and answers that piqued my interest:
Ian: "๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต (๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ)?"
Stefan: "๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐บ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข <๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข> ๐ต๐ข๐จ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ (๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ) ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ. ๐๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ต."
Ian: "๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข. ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ ๐ข๐ท๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ป ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ โ๐๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธโ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต."
Stefan: "๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด โ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆโ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ. ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐๐๐, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต โ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ดโ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต."
Ian: "๐3๐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ: ๐๐๐๐ 2019. ๐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ 500-600 ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?"
Stefan: "๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด โ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ.
๐๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ '๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต.' ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ด โ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆโ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ: ๐๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต!"
The article spanned a wide variety of topics, and also included some details about how ILP evolved to its current iteration, along with some of the 'big picture' ideas that Stefan Thomas has for Coil.
For those that are serious fans of XRP or the technology and businesses behind the growing Internet of Value, this W3C article is required reading material.
Thanks to XRP Research Center (Twitter avatar)
TPAC 2019
TPAC 2019 is a meeting sponsored by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the body responsible for establishing and promulgating web standards used in Internet development. The meeting spans for five days and its goal is to:
"... ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐3๐โ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฅ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ (๐๐๐).
๐3๐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด (๐๐) ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด (๐๐) ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด."
It's an annual meeting, and this year's is taking place in Fukuoka, Japan, from September 16แตสฐ through the 20แตสฐ.
Coil happens to be a platinum sponsor at the event, and both Adrian Hope-Bailie and Stefan Thomas will be hosting a presentation on Tuesday, September 17แตสฐ that focuses on Web Monetization.
A large part of what both Ripple and Coil are trying to accomplish requires each organization to engage with not only regulators and government officials, but also international standard-setting bodies. To achieve real-time payments on a global basis, the Internet of Value must use an open, standards-based approach so that a critical mass of stakeholders can easily access and use the technology.
Part of the process of achieving these standards is to meet with other businesses and organizations that also have an interest in helping to create these general principles.
My Coil Recommendations
One of the most prominent leaders in the Coil Community is Steven Sands, or as he's known on social media, @vengefulseven. He was one of the first authors to take advantage of Coil's web monetization; after noticing that there were very few social media platforms about Coil, he decided to demonstrate leadership and start a new subreddit, r/CoilCommunity.
The subreddit is now a steady home for those wishing to promote their Coil content on Reddit, and although its membership is a modest number currently, I predict that it may (eventually) grow to challenge some of the crypto-focused subreddits for membership numbers.
In addition to his leadership in helping others who are using Coil, he's a fiction author, specializing in the fantasy genre.
And once again, he's demonstrating leadership by being the first author to publish a full novel on the Coil website.
Why is he doing this?
In a recent blog, he describes his experience working with Amazon's publishing platform, and actually divulges how much money he made there, compared to how much money he's currently making on Coil. It's a great article, and if you're an author who is trying to decide on whether or not to publish on Amazon or Coil, it's an important document to review prior to making your decision.
Author: Steven Sands @vengefulseven
Article: My Experience Self-Publishing with Amazon and Why I'm Backing Coil
Topic: Web Monetization
Author: Dr FoMo @CKJ
YouTube Link: Ripple XRP: IMF Chief Christine Lagarde Encourages Open Cryptocurrency Regulation.
Topic: XRP
Author: Dusty Showers @dustyshowers
Article: How To Kiss Opossums
Topic: Wildlife
Author: King Solomon @XRP_OWL
Article: XRP - Ripple - The Internet of Value - And My Story
Topic: XRP
Author: mirrae @mirrae
Article: Corporate Raiders & Tokenizing Real Assets
Topic: Internet of Value
Author: Srdan Vocanec @Bauhauswerk
Article: 5. Photography is not just for pros! Portrait photography pt2
Topic: Photography
Author: pedro ruiz @nyc2615
Article: Part 3 of leadership quotes by charles philips
Topic: Philosophy
XRP News
The Japanese contingent within the XRP Community is comprised of a large number of active supporters, and earlier this year they began to plan for what will probably be one of the largest XRP meetups in the history of the digital asset.
As time passed, more details have become known about the meetup, which was tentatively planned for a time frame to follow the third SWELL conference. SBI VC Trade is one of the sponsors of the event.
On September 4แตสฐ, more details were published, and the organizers indicated they will be accepting applications to attend the event, starting on September 15แตสฐ:
The site listed the time and place as 1 pm - 5 pm in the Ginza District of Tokyo, one of the most popular destinations for business travelers and tourists alike.

My guess is that there will be hundreds of attendees at this meeting; if you're looking to enjoy yourself and also connect with other XRP fans, this meetup in mid-November is definitely an event you should attend.
Provided, of course, that you can get to Japan!
St Jude
It was a momentous occasion for King Blue (Twitter avatar).
In 2018, he was the first person to realize the potential behind using the XRP Tip Bot for charitable fund-raising. It was an intuitive, light-bulb moment for the early adopter, and he knew that he'd stumbled onto something that might introduce a new level of convenience and fun for philanthropy.
He was right.
Although he received suspicion and push-back from some quarters, he persevered, writing a guide to help others reputably use the new application while maintaining the trust of those in the XRP Community who were generous enough to part with some of their zerps for worthy causes.
He formed a small group that has since raised many thousands of XRP for charity, called the 'Good Souls Group,' or 'GSG' for short. The group is comprised of (currently) six charities and their champions, each a respected individual within the XRP Community.
King Blue's favorite charity? St Jude Children's Hospital. St Jude's is an organization formed in 1962 in an effort to fight childhood cancers. Over time, St Jude has made enormous progress, steadily reducing the fatality of specific types of childhood illnesses.
And on August 31หขแต, a generous contributor, @RichRipple, donated 7,000 XRP, which pushed the total amount of XRP collected for St Jude to over 100,000 XRP:
It was a satisfying achievement for the one individual who was first to step forward and take a risk: Congratulations to King Blue and the entire Good Souls Group on this important milestone. Hopefully, in time, we'll be celebrating a full million XRP raised for St Jude and the other organizations that benefit from the efforts of the GSG.
GIFs of Excellence
If you are one of those XRP Community members that is also a member of one or more social media platforms, or Twitter, you will probably encounter an opportunity to share memes and gifs. While some of us prefer written material or YouTube vlogs, gifs and memes are used frequently to succinctly get a point across in an intuitive manner.
Recently, I covered the unexpected and enormous popularity of a gif that was created by @_JonnyLawrence (Twitter avatar):
As it turns out, @JonnyLawrence is quite skilled at creating these types of graphics, and on September 1หขแต, he released a new one:
The new one shows how ILP and the XRP Ledger can communicate any type of tokenized value across the two networks; basically, the XRP Ledger can serve as a source of settlement for its own native currency - XRP - and any counter-party asset that a gateway chooses to create on the network. ILP can then communicate this information across its network, and join the XRP Ledger to other external networks.
The first of his creations was retweeted over one thousand times. The new graphic is also popular, and provides yet another inspiring visual depiction of XRP's capabilities.
Regulation and Crypto Fan Video
While most fan videos focus in on aspects of XRP and its growing collection of technological components, one recent video instead focused on matters of regulation, setting the first half of the video to an inspirational soundtrack:
The clips in the video centered around comments from the IMF - and Christine Lagarde specifically - that emphasized thought leadership on matters affecting digital assets and blockchain technology. If you have any doubts about whether the world's leaders are taking digital assets and blockchain seriously, this video may just put them to rest.
Thanks Janna One Trick (YouTube Channel) for posting this inspirational collection of regulatory clips.
Steady as She Goes
The cryptomarket can be unpredictable, but for those of us that choose to own XRP, our steadfast belief in the IoV doesn't require any specific faith or political leaning.
It is based on concrete facts and measurable progress.
This is what sets the XRP Community apart; we are comprised of individuals who believe in the fundamental value of technology projects, and are not swayed by emotional appeals, slogan-ism, politics, or grade-school trolling.
Instead, we respect tangible business progress and results, as well as the singular vision that guides the leaders of the IoV's champion organizations.
It's important to stay current on the latest developments affecting XRP. To learn more about how blockchain developments impact XRP, make sure to subscribe to my blog on Coil. And remember to support others in the XRP Community as well!
Sources and Credits:
Cover Art: Thank you to Bruce Mars