While the world of altcoins can be more than a little fickle, one offering that continues to maintain and even increase their fan base is Ripple (XRP). While you can, and should, take the time to review XRP and see what they’re all about for yourself, Ripple is one of the biggest players in the crypto industry and there’ve been a few recent newsworthy events this week that I wanted to pass on.
First, while it’s still merely speculation at this point and would only pertain to customers in the E.U., there was a bit of Ripple buzz to start the week.
PayGlobal ran a poll on Twitter where they asked users “Which crypto should we add for @Payglobalme cash at atm and bank card payouts” and XRP won hand’s down, receiving an impressive 7,480 out of 8,500 total votes.
PayGlobal is an e-money agent that provides registered users with e-wallet services where they can receive money via bank transfer, debit card, alternative payments, Bitcoin and Ethereum. After the poll, PayGlobal tweeted a thank you and said, “#XRP goes to the product team with priority” which means that users could soon be able to go from XRP to fiat without having to purchase a prepaid credit card and can simply use their existing bank card.
Just two days later on Tuesday of this week, Ripple announced a partnership with Forte that will be leveraged in order to integrate blockchain technology into video games to support game developers. Ripple is setting aside a $100 fund that will be managed by Forte, which specializes in the adoption of blockchain technology in the gaming industry with the backing of a host of big Silicon Valley names, such as: Coinbase Ventures, 1confirmation, Battery Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and others.
According to the official press release, the fund is primarily targeted at game developers that are currently operating live game economies that have over 50,000 active daily users. Additionally, it is designed so that the fund will operate alongside Forte’s platform technologies and include Ripple’s open-source solutions, including XRP, aimed at mainstream adoption for blockchain gaming.
Ethan Beard, a senior executive with Xpring (Ripple’s developer ecosystem initiative), was quoted in an interview with Forbes as saying, “blockchain will help game designers who’ve had a hard time facilitating an economy that can serve all types of players.”
And Forte’s chief platform officer, Brett Seyler, said that the gaming industry “needs solutions that can support these economies at scale with cross-chain interoperability.”
Lastly, Ripple’s chief technology officer, David Schwartz, joined a fireside chat at SXSW on Thursday and while there weren’t any company secrets spilled or other juicy tidbits, it’s definitely worth a listen. Schwartz addresses how blockchain is changing the foundation of our global economic system, distributed ledger technology, and more, and the entire session is available on Youtube.
Other Ripple news this year causing ripples in the crypto-world:
- March 07, Aluf Holdings Inc. tweeted that they are “looking into @Ripple & the XRP Ledger for our latest acquisition pursuit in the biometrics space and our desire to transition its proprietary technology onto the blockchain.”
- In mid-February, Ripple’s Xpring announced investment in Wietse Wind’s XRPL Labs in order to continue his research and develop XRP-centric applications.
- It was announced at the end of February that Nasdaq is in the final stages of launching its XRP “Ripple Liquid Index” (RLX).
The first quarter isn’t even over yet and Ripple has come out of the gate strong, possibly setting themselves up for a year worth watching.
