XRP Bolsters US-Mexico Payments
XRP User Activity is up 34-points (4.06%) over the last 14-days, driving FCAS up 21-points (2.45%). Price is up 18.58% over the same time period.
What is XRP ?
XRP is the token used by the Ripple network, which was founded in 2012 to bring financial services to the unbanked (currently 1.7 billion adults lack an account). Instead of using blockchain mining, like Bitcoin does, Ripple confirms transactions via a peer-to-peer consensus mechanism connecting a group of servers, thereby dramatically reducing cost and energy consumption, and increasing transaction throughput to be on par with Visa.
Through this system, Ripple aims to “enable the world to move money like information moves today” — a concept it calls the Internet of Value. XRP is currently the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap ($12.3 billion), after Bitcoin and Ethereum. Ripple’s global payments network now spans over 40 countries and six continents.
The Ripple Effect
XRP global health is up 21-points (2.45%) since the beginning of February, driven by a 34-points (4.06%) increase in User Activity. Developer Behavior has also been steadily rising, up 10-points (0.91%) over this time period, along with a 12-point rise (1.5%) in Market Maturity.
On February 4th Ripple announced a new partnership with International Money Express (Intermex), a leading money transfer company focused primarily on Latin America. The partnership will enable Intermex, which is reportedly processing more than 30 million payment transactions annually, to leverage RippleNet for faster, transparent cross-border remittance services between the United States and Mexico. According to the World Bank, Mexico is the third country in the world to receive the most remittances yearly ($36 billion in 2019), most of which come from the U.S. Through Ripple’s On Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, Intermex will be able to exchange USD for MXN through XRP, in only 3 seconds.
Our Hot Take
Blockchain’s association with cryptocurrencies is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, cryptocurrencies are continuously enabling new use-cases to emerge. On the other, its use for illegal activities continuously discredits the undeniable game-changing potential of blockchain technology.
Ripple is very much aware of this issue, and actively asserts itself as a pro-regulation mediator between global regulators and the crypto industry. This has enabled Ripple to partner with traditional financial systems and implement real-world use-cases that have continued to drive network growth regardless of bearish trends. Indeed, Ripple CEO recently stated he is open to the idea of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) launching on its blockchain. It will be interesting to see the competition arise with Facebook’s Libra, who is also directly appealing to national governments and regulatory bodies.
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