During a year where many cryptocurrency investors are having their faith tested – Ripple (XRP) has stood out as a cryptocurrency project that has gained more traction than ever. Specifically, Ripplenet has recently formed a partnership with the multi-billion dollar Malaysian group CIMB. However, this isn’t the only partnership that Ripple – based in San Francisco – was able to forge this year.
Gaining Ground
Ripple also was able to announce partnerships with globally-known companies. For example, they also formed a partnership with Santander and American Express specifically for US-UK payments. A Top 10 U.S. bank, PNC, has also apparently seen the value in Ripple with regards to international payments. These moves have propelled XRP to becoming the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, moving Ethereum to third place.
There is an advantage with using XRP, and it isn’t surprising that many financial institutions are looking into partnering with Ripple. This is because XRP allows users to enact transactions in real-time, instead of through the traditional financial system, which often take days. It is easy to see how international companies would value real-time settlements regarding transactions, rather than waiting days for payments.
Ripple has even parodied the inefficiency of banks in an advertisement that many in the cryptocurrency community have praised for its humor and insight. In the commercial, a banker travels extensively, through all sorts of terrain, in order to directly deliver cash to another individual. The commercial also displayed the text: “Why is it possible to instantly send a message, but with payments, it’s sometimes faster to board a plane and fly it there yourself?” The advertisement is titled: “Faster Cross Border Payments Shouldn’t Require A Boarding Pass” and can be seen below:
The momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing for Ripple. Coinbase, one of the most well-known and influential companies in the cryptocurrency sector, and valued in the billions – is considering adding support for a “broad range of assets” – including Ripple.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Ripple would be one of the first choices for Coinbase, considering that Coinbase has added coins with a lower market capitalization, and more controversial coins, as well, such as Zcash. Time will tell whether San Francisco-based Coinbase will finally add Ripple, but it certainly appears that it could happen fairly soon.
