IoV Layers Expanding
The Internet of Value is beginning to take hold of people's imaginations - and their daily life!
Coil is continuing to grow, streaming XRP to content creators across the Internet in real-time. xRapid is transporting payments from one location on the globe to another at an almost-undetectable low cost. And these low costs are allowing businesses like MoneyGram to step up competition and revitalize its cross-border payments.
The IoV's vision is 'money moving at the speed of information.'
Ripple commissioned a professionally-produced commercial to demonstrate this concept, using their favorite comparison - flying to the destination with cash personally versus sending it through banks - to emphasize their value proposition to banks at last year's SWELL conference.
Each week, we see the individual layers of the Internet of Value expanding to include new exchanges, banks, remittance processors, and new 'hybrid financial institutions' that deal in both fiat and crypto. And there are dozens of small teams that are now comprising a growing ecosystem of developers working on things like the XRP Ledger, Interledger Connectors, Web Monetization, Coil, xRapid, and Custody Components:
Each of these components contributes to the whole, and toward the goal of moving value in real-time, no matter if it's fiat money or digital assets:
This is the way that technological change works.
It's a multi-layered approach to putting all of the necessary pieces into place to see the whole picture erupt into focus; and the XRP Community is, with Ripple's encouragement, helping to get to this final stage.
This open approach to making the IoV a reality is exciting to watch, and is reflective of the spirit of crypto itself; open-source, decentralized, accountable, innovative, exciting, and fun.
Pick out the layer where you think you can help, and make a positive difference to help propel the cryptomarket forward; supporting each other is crucial in this effort. Together we can help energize and continue XRP's adoption as the standard in digital assets.
Ripple News
Ripple's Xpring Initiative is hosting and funding a hack-a-thon from October 2ⁿᵈ to the 3ʳᵈ (Wednesday and Thursday, respectively) at Berkeley, California, in the Pauley Ballroom.
The event is happening contemporaneously with the first annual UBRI meeting. The Ripple engineering team will be participating and helping with the event and the participants; there will be a judges panel consisting of representatives from Ripple, Berkeley at Blockchain, and Electric Capital.
Each participating team will construct enough code for a demo, and will have an opportunity to present their work to the judges.
While there are some significant opportunities for the winners of the hack-a-thon, along with prize money, it looks like there are enough award categories to honor multiple participants.
Good luck to the attendees of the hack-a-thon, and I hope to learn about the winning projects more in the coming weeks.
Ripple Drop: Episode Fifteen
Ripple published the fifteenth episode of the Ripple Drop, its ongoing series to highlight company insiders, their viewpoints, and any significant business developments:
The theme for this episode was fairly obvious from the interviews it contained; both Chris Larsen, Ripple's Founder & Chairman of the Board, and Michelle Bond, Ripple's Global Head of Government Relations, talked about their perspective on regulation's importance for blockchain.
The quote from Chris Larsen that made the biggest impact was this one:
Question (Reinhard Cate): "𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘥, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴; 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?"
Answer (Chris Larsen): "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺.
𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯; 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴, (𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵) 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴."
Reinhard Cate then book-ended that quick edit of Chris Larsen's answer with a similar question posed to Michelle Bond:
Question (Reinhard Cate): "𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵?"
Answer (Michelle Bond): "𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘴.
𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘣𝘺."
It was a straight-forward answer, and Reinhard Cate subsequently released two follow-up, extended interviews with both Chris Larsen and Michelle Bond.
Extended Chris Larsen Interview
In some cases, Reinhard Cate has released extended versions of the short 'snippet' interviews contained in his 'Ripple Drop' episodes. This one was no exception, and he subsequently published more comprehensive versions of both of the latest interviews; one with Chris Larsen, Ripple's Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, and Michelle Bond, Ripple's Global Head of Government Relations.
He published the extended Chris Larsen interview on the same day as the primary Ripple Drop episode, and one day later issued the extended interview with Michelle Bond:
Question (Reinhard Cate): "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦?"
Answer (Chris Larsen): "𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 ... 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘳 (𝘟𝘙𝘗𝘓) 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘓𝘗, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 ... 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 - 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 - 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳, 𝘠𝘦𝘯, 𝘙𝘦𝘯𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘪, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦. 𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘬𝘦𝘺, 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴."
In addition, another point was included in this video that was edited out form the abbreviated Ripple Drop version. In it, Chris Larsen re-emphasized that he - and Ripple - were not pushing for less regulation, but instead want clear regulation:
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺."
Ripple is focusing itself with amazing power and intensity on the topic of regulatory clarity in the United States; and it seems that due to other high-profile developments in blockchain - such as Facebook's announcements around Libra - that their efforts may obtain additional traction. If Ripple's call for regulatory clarity is matched shoulder-to-shoulder by other stakeholders in the space, that would be ideal. While it's great that Ripple is consistently providing leadership for blockchain technology, it would be even better if some of the other organizations benefiting from regulatory clarity would step forward on a consistent manner as well.
KFH Xpress
We first learned about Kuwait Finance House's membership in Ripplenet in May of 2018. At that time, it was one of many Middle Eastern banks that chose to join RippleNet, the growing network of banks that is quickly replacing the aging SWIFT correspondence banking group.
If you're new to the topic, it's important to note that KFH was established in 1977 as the first 'Islamic Bank' in Kuwait.
An Islamic bank is a bank that handles its affairs and its investments in compliance with Sharia, or Islamic law. This gives it some important distinctions from other banks, such as following the Muslim restrictions on 'riba' or 'usury' which prohibits charging interest. That’s just one example of what sets apart an 'Islamic' bank from an ordinary bank.
At the time that KFH joined RippleNet, not much was known about their internal strategies and plans, other than an obvious commitment to modern payment processing technology.
Then, in October of last year, the bank's officials were quoted in a news publication talking about their first experience in using a newly-constructed integration with RippleNet:
"𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘒𝘍𝘏 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘙𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘕𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 (𝘸𝘢𝘴) 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘒𝘶𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 (𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢) 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺."
Later in January of 2019, the bank indicated that it was going live with their new service, which would be limited to transfers to and from the largest Islamic bank in the world, the Al Rajhi Bank, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It seemed like a careful and circumspect roll-out of the new service.
On September 8ᵗʰ, the Kuwait Times ran a story about how the bank was offering a new money transfer service for its customers, called 'KFH Xpress:'
This is where your first question should be 'Is KFH Xpress the same thing as their 'Instant International Transfer' service? And the answer, in my view, is 'probably not.' I looked at the bank's official website, and their 'Instant International Transfer' service is still labeled as such.
So what is their new service, 'KFH Xpress,' and what technology is behind it?
According to the article in the Kuwait Times, the technology used was built in partnership with a company called Finablr. Finablr is a huge money transmitter with enormous reach in the Middle East and Asia. And in February of this year, it was learned that Finablr had become a member of RippleNet too. The company has already formed an agreement with Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand to process payments to that country from some of its Middle East partners.
So, essentially, KFH is now operating its own in-house transfer service, and is also using a new one that it constructed in collaboration with Finablr, which is, in turn, 'built on Ripple.' It's one important example of a traditional bank that is not afraid to take important and critical steps to update its technology infrastructure.
Congratulations to Kuwait Finance House and Ripple on yet another successful transformation. With each implementation of Ripple technology, the Internet of Value moves inexorably forward toward real-time settlement.
Faysal Bank
Another Islamic bank that recently decided to join RippleNet is Faysal Bank, a Pakistani bank based in Karachi. And it is in turn owned by their parent company, Ithmaar Bank, which is based in Bahrain. The bank was founded in 1994, and has over three thousand employees.
On September 6ᵗʰ, we learned that the bank had joined the new banking network:
The Chief Digital Officer of Faysal Bank noted:
"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘍𝘉𝘓 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘍𝘉𝘓 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴."
The addition of another bank to RippleNet is always a positive news item; and in this case, adding another bank in Pakistan is even better news, because it represents a country - and region - of the world where there may be corridors that haven't yet been explored by Ripple.
MoneyRebel
One of the common phrases bandied about - by me and countless others on social media that share their opinion on crypto - is for others to 'do their own research.'
Why is this comment so popular?
For one thing, we're all in this together. While none of us - or at least very few of us - have what is known as 'inside information' into the dealings of specific companies, we know, for the most part, just as much as the next person. And we're all working together to learn more: In that spirit, we should all recognize that a public, decentralized group is composed of a wide swath of personalities and capabilities.
Since crypto traders really don't know how much effort went into various opinions, it's important for each market participant to verify any information on which they're basing their investment decisions.
One relatively new XRP Community member that has decided to communicate with others and share his own findings is @XRP_OWL (Twitter avatar). On Coil and Twitter, he's published some of his findings, including this recent one about MoneyRebel, a new crypto platform:
In this case, it looks like Moneyrebel operates a fiat on-ramp via a mobile platform, and its corporate description also mentions goals of joining together different aspects of the financial system. In a document that @XRP_OWL acquired, it's apparent that Moneyrebel has integrated Ripple technology into its stack, specifically for cross-border payments.
This finding was significant, and it made me wonder how many other applications and platforms are actively integrating Ripple technology and solutions; the takeover of SWIFT's role as the new modern payments infrastructure is in progress, and findings like this add to our collectively-known data points.
xRapid Tracking
XRP has multiple, very large use cases. This includes using it as a bridge asset for cross-border payments. Essentially, XRP plays the role of a bridge asset, so that banks, remittance processors, and others are free from having to establish multiple banking relationships in other countries; instead, these banks and businesses only need to 'hold XRP' to easily transform currencies from one type to another.
Ripple, the largest company using XRP for this purpose, has created a software package that utilizes this feature, called xRapid. xRapid is a solution that is available to an organization once Ripple implements other related components, such as xCurrent.
In late 2017 and early 2018, we saw some of the early adopter remittance processors and banks use xRapid for their payment flows, and then in 2019, with the landmark MoneyGram deal, even more organizations began using the option.
To track the increasing volume levels attributable to the software package, an XRP Community member named @H_M_X_ (Twitter avatar) has developed his own set of techniques, tools, and programs for identifying these xRapid transactions from otherwise-opaque payments. He accesses the data from the XRP Ledger that is related to wallets belonging to xRapid-participating exchanges.
Here is a recent communication H_M_X_ tweeted out:
Analyzing the transactions requires him to first do the most difficult task; transaction identification. To do this, he zeros in on exchange transactions. The great thing about H_M_X_'s analysis is that he's decided to share his tools and techniques on Github.
If you're interested in xRapid adoption and progress, you should follow him on Twitter, and if you're technically proficient at data analysis, you may want to read through some of the files in his Github repository:
H_M_X_'s Github repository: https://github.com/hmatejx/xrapid_search
Coil
It was a great week for Coil authors; I counted at least six new authors just within my own small circle of the Internet. If that's any indication, that means that more content is on its way on the new blogging platform.
One thing you'll notice is that creators of this new content are from all types of genres; some are musicians; some are photographers; others are historians. This type of potpourri is exactly what a new and growing platform needs when it comes to creating a sizable collection of content over time. Even though Coil is still technically in 'beta,' this current trend of new content will place the team well past the starting line when they 'go live' with the application's full set of features.
One XRP fan that recently analyzed monetization is @DocteurXrp. He investigated the various use cases that he imagined in the music industry, and pondered how digitization and real-time settlement could change the day-to-day way that the industry supports its singers and musicians:
The blog's author promised to cover monetization of the gaming industry for his next deep dive; I recommend reading through some of his blog, as it's apparent that this is one cryptomarket participant that takes 'DYOR' ('Do Your Own Research') seriously.
My Coil Recommendations
I've sampled more Coil authors over the last week, and have collected the information on a few of these new authors to share with others. While not every author puts in the same amount of effort on their entries, you'll find a lot of premium content and Easter eggs only for Coil subscribers in these posts, and in some cases the entire article has been configured only for paying Coil members.
If you happen to encounter a new author on your own while browsing Coil, you can act to help grow the community and the application by sharing what you've found over social media; each payment to a content creator involves a small amount of XRP.
In this way, Coil is a win-win; as you create, earn, or browse, each of these activities will help promote XRP, the Internet of Value, and Coil, strengthening the entire XRP network.
My recommendations:
Author: Docteur CX@docteurcryptoxr
Article: The A to Z of XRP (part 2)
Topic: XRP
Author: King Solomon @XRP_OWL
Article: Intellect Design Arena (iGTB) CBX Product - "Intellichain" "Intelligent Audit" & Dutch Banking Group ING
Topic: XRP
Author: Inspiring Women @inspiring_women
Article: Women who make big changes in this world
Topic: Inspirational
Author: Marc Larson @Marc1Tech
Article: Click This ... Part One
Topic: Entertainment
Author: Seth Stanley @SethStanley
Article: Movie Deaths Volume 1
Topic: Entertainment
XRP News
The XRP Community Fund Foundation made progress on September 9ᵗʰ with the official signing of necessary government forms in The Netherlands. While the members of the foundation based in the U.S. were not in attendance, the three Dutch board members were there, and filed the required forms:
It may have been a minor bureaucratic step in the overall process of running a foundation, but the occasion was symbolic in nature; the event marks the official starting point of the XRP Community Fund Foundation.
Up next for the fund? Building.
Creative Marketing Using Holographs
Do you know what a 'hologram fan' is? Hint: It's not a person who loves holograms. It's an actual 'fan' - one that spins around - that can create images based off of mathematical calculations about how fast the rotor is spinning and what type of lights it can display:
And @emagdn1m3 (Twitter account) chose one of the most popular XRP-related GIFs to display with his 'fan holograph;' the one created by @_JonnyLawrence.
It was a creative and fun post; sometimes activities to promote XRP can just be fun for its own sake!
GIFs of Excellence, Continued
It just so happens that the GIF that @emagdn1m3 used to demonstrate his hologram fan was originally made by another XRP Community member named @_JonnyLawrence.
@_JonnyLawrence has created three very popular GIFs in quick succession; his latest one demonstrates the most prominent differences between Bitcoin and XRP using a 'dynamic infogram' type of video:
These types of creations have a surprising amount of impact on people's opinions. As much as I'd like everybody to have the patience to read through a long blog, some people make their decisions based on very limited analysis or time; these types of visual creations help to get complex points communicated in an efficient manner.
The XRP Drop
In deference to Ripple's popular 'Ripple Drop' video series, an XRP Community member decided to act on a suggestion by others to create a community-sourced version. They decided to name the new series, of course, the 'XRP Drop.'
The idea was only recently proposed, so it was with some amount of surprise that I discovered that a promo video - in advance of the first episode - had already been created by @zerpenator (Twitter avatar):
The series is set to begin in October.
Poloniex
On September 5ᵗʰ, the Poloniex exchange tweeted out information about some new upgrades to their platform:
The exchange was one of the primary first exchanges in the cryptomarket, and changed hands in 2018 to a new owner; Circle. The new ownership has made incremental changes over time, along with some significant improvements; this latest series of changes includes alterations designed to improve the user experience for those that trade XRP.
The exchange noted in a series of follow-ups that they were eliminating the 'base reserve' requirement for each new address creation, and were speeding up withdrawals and deposits of XRP.
The shifting of their wallet structure to usage of the tag system is a positive step, as it means that each Poloniex user doesn't have to pay the reserve on a new XRP wallet each time they open an account. Instead, they are using XRPL 'tags' to separate out deposits from one another, like how the XRP Tip Bot operates.
In addition, an XRP Community member, @ShortTheFOMO (Twitter avatar) asked the exchange if they would support the new 'X-address' format for deposits. Nik Bougalis added to this request, noting that other exchanges needed to take a look at the new technique as well.
The X-address supports the tag system, but doesn't require the end-user or XRP owner to use a tag; instead, they can use one address that includes the ability for dependent systems to decode it to two separate fields; a Ripple address (with the lower-case 'r'), and a tag. This X-address format was debated at length prior to a consensus forming; Wietse Wind then created the first version of this address syntax, and published tools for others to use to decode and encode the format.
Hopefully we'll see exchanges begin to use this convenient feature.
Coinfield Project
Coinfield is a Canadian-based exchange headquartered in Vancouver, and it is currently doing a robust business, with over five million in adjusted daily volume, according to Coinmarketcap. The exchange treats XRP as one of its 'base' currencies, allowing traders to quickly move value into and out of the exchange in response to unpredictable market conditions.
Altogether, Coinfield supports roughly twenty-four markets in total, including fiat pairings for XRP that include JPY (Japanese Yen), AED (United Arab Emirates dirham), USD (United States Dollar), GBP (British Pound), EUR (Euro), and CAD (Canadian Dollar). In addition to what is no doubt the most wide-ranging support for XRP against various fiat currencies, the exchange also supports a stablecoin called USDC, where traders can park their value in-between trades.
Absent other factors, this is the type of exchange that the XRP Community should support, as it is apparent that this Canadian exchange extends the liquidity reach and capabilities of the XRP Ledger.
And last week, both the CEO and the Exchange sent out tweets that teased a new XRP-related project. Here is a tweet from the CEO of Coinfield, Bob Ras:
The tweet prompted a myriad of guesses from those in the XRP Community that follow the exchange on Twitter, and the company sent out a tweet subsequently that sparked even more interest:
This tweet also resulted in a list of suggestions from those on 'Crypto-Twitter,' with generally-intrigued responses.
Do you know what the secret Coinfield project or effort is regarding XRP? If so, perhaps you should weigh in with your own comment on Coinfield's promotional tweet.
Thanks to @BankXRP for the note about Coinfield.
Crypto Fundraising
One of the best aspects of the XRP Community is the creativity of its participants.
In 2018, @KingBlue (Twitter avatar) was the first person to champion the use of Wietse Wind's XRP Tip Bot application to raise money for charity.
In his case, his favorite charity is St Jude Children's Hospital.
Jason (@cpilots2017 is his Twitter avatar) decided to support a different charity, known as 'Children on the Edge.' Along the way, Jason has volunteered to raise money for COTE (the acronym for Children on the Edge) in various ways, including running races.
On September 8ᵗʰ, he shared that he'd recently presented at a UK conference called 'DLT Con' about his insights into charitable fundraising with digital assets:
Some of my favorite quotes from Jason:
"𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬; 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘟𝘙𝘗 𝘓𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘳 ... 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.
𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭, 𝘪𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰.
𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥; 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦; 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴, 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩."
The last quote reminded me of his chosen charity, COTE. COTE provides assistance to children and families that are truly living in challenging conditions where they struggle with the basic necessities of life.
If you're interested in learning more about COTE, or even in playing a more active role in helping to raise money for this worthy cause, you should follow Jason on Twitter, along with the official account for Children on the Edge:
New Community Poster
His original community poster was so popular that many XRP community members petitioned its creator - @stedas (Twitter avatar) - to create more, so that their own originally-overlooked Twitter account could be represented in the historic graphical display. He responded by sponsoring another community poster, and implored those interested to notify him ahead of time if they're interested in seeing their own account reflected in the poster:
The community poster is fascinating to think about; years from now, are we - the collective 'we' - going to be able to tell our children and grandchildren about being part of the very beginning stages of the Internet of Value?
Pick A Layer & Jump In
As an early adopter and investor in digital assets, you play a role - whether it's passive or active - in helping to spread the word about XRP and the expanding layers of the Internet of Value.
Whether it's as a part-time social media commentator, a developer, a writer, a musician, or an artist, you can help the IoV become a reality.
To get the latest information and updates about XRP, the XRP Community, and the IoV, subscribe to my blog on Coil; thank you to those that have already subscribed!
And if you haven't done so already, grab one of those affordable $5 dollar Coil subscriptions to see a growing assortment of premium-only content. And as always, remember to support your fellow members of the XRP Community.
Credits
Thanks to Andy Beales for this blog's cover art
OhNoRipple via https://ift.tt/2PblI7a @Hodor, @Khareem Sudlow
