After All This, Ripple (XRP) Can Go Only One Way – Up

It’s been a slightly eventful week for some of the major cryptocurrencies, with the prices gaining minimally to settle nerves around the crypto sphere.

Investors are taking note of the green as the fears, uncertainty, and doubts concerning the cryptocurrency mini-crash dissipate. Of the top five coins, none showed resilience in the last two months as Ripple (XRP).

Headlines this week have all been about how Ripple coin is going to be the defining cryptocurrency in 2018. Some are calling it the “dark horse” of 2018. If you are an XRP holder then you have heard of mega-deals between Ripple (XRP) and companies in China, Japan, and UAE.

But the biggest news this week came from Saudi Arabia. XRP is set to surge as Ripple secured a deal worth $4 billion with Saudi Arabia. I’ll give you more on this and the other deals shortly.

Let me put Ripple deals into perspective and show you why these mega deals are happening. The goal is to show you why they are likely just the beginning of a bigger impact of Ripplenet around the world.

Interest in Ripple (XRP) a result of its use cases

A coin is as good as its use cases. And that’s where XRP and many of its features come in. simply put; the creators of Ripple have given the world a platform that brings solutions to real-world issues.

It seeks to decentralize international payments systems with its four fundamental characteristics- liquidity, fastest international transactions (just 3 seconds and you are done), the scalable blockchain, and more importantly, stability.

What do all these mean for Ripple?

One thing comes to mind– Ripple’s value is not all about its price on the market. No, that would be too minimalistic. Ripple is a brand now, commanding interest from all over the world.

Like I mentioned above, doing business within major financial markets around the world is an indelible marker that COIN is now being appreciated for what it really is.

Ripple seeks to partner with financial institutions to promote the concept of the Internet of value. The intention is to make cross-border payments swifter and fast; cheaper for all, and importantly, be a reliable mode of transferring money from fiat to cryptocurrency and vice versa.

At the center of this support is the Interledger protocol that will connect financial institutions and blockchains to make value transfer easy and instant.

$4 billion Ripple deal with Saudi Central bank a first for any blockchain

The deal that sees Ripple become the first cryptocurrency to sign a deal with a Central Bank is worth $4 billion. The deal was signed between Ripple and Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority (SAMA). It gives the coin the go-ahead to develop blockchain-based software to be used by Saudi banks in settling payments.

The agreement puts Ripple’s xCurrent software at the disposal of the country’s banks. They will use the software to facilitate instant cross-border payments. Though it is just at the pilot stage, this deal gives it a massive growth opportunity.

Already XRP experienced a surge in the announcement of that agreement. XRP gained value from $1.03 to close at $ 1.14, a positive percentage increase on Ripple’s market cap that now stands at over $44 billion. That’s $4 billion more, a 10% rise on the day.

Investors are taking notice, but this is hardly the first Ripple deal. And if all goes well, not the last one either.

RippleNet nets China’s LianLian International

Ripple had earlier in February signed another deal with LianLian International- a major Chinese e-commerce company. The deal will see the company use Ripple’s xCurrent to facilitate cheaper online payments between its 150 million users and major online shops like Amazon, eBay, and Ali Express.

This deal will see the Hong Kong-based company link users in the U.S, Europe, and China with the payment system. What could this deal bring to XRP’s dinner table? More exposure to the world, I’d say. That’s real growth potential for XRP and RippleNet.

XRP gets the nod for listing onto Japan’s SBI virtual Currencies

XRP is set to be the first and only Listing on SBI Virtual Currencies when the biggest financial services company in Japan launches. The company will partner Ripple on its xRapid ecosystem to enable financial institutions to access liquidity that’s crucial in cross-border payments.

The system will allow SBI to link institutions in Japan to others around the world. According to Ripple’s Patrick Griffin, a senior figure in the Business Development department, partnering SBI Virtual Currencies will play a major role in helping XRP achieve its objective of having money transfers be faster and cheaper.

Ripple (XRP) is silently making its platform visible and with mainstream financial players like MoneyGram and Western Union on board, there is only one way I see the value of XRP going: up. We cannot rule out price fluctuations in the crypto industry, but I am betting on one thing about Ripple (XRP) it will prove doubters wrong if it hasn’t done so already.