



Asia News Desk

There's been a huge spike in activity - a whopping 80% rise just throughout September, of transfers originating in the US or Europe, with destinations in Mexico and the Philippines, using Ripple's On Demand Liquidity service, ODL, formerly known as xRapid.Who are these new users? Immigrant workers, sending funds home.An independent analyst monitored the flow of XRP and recorded movement in exchanges who installed ODL. Among them are the Mexican exchange house Bitso, Coins.ph based in the Philippines, the American Bittrex, and Bitstamp based in Europe.A quick glance at CoinMarketCap's data shows $1.5 million XRP had been traded paired with the Mexican Peso just in the last 24hrs before publishing this article.That means October is currently on-pace to beat out September, which had $18.9 million in remittances to Mexico and the Philippines, which as mentioned, was 80% more than in August.So how are these immigrant workers discovering XRP, and why are they choosing it over alternative cryptocurrences?Moneygram.The deal made back in June has been put into effect - Ripple agreed to taking a $50 million stake in MoneyGram, and MoneyGram agreed to begin using XRP for cross-border payments, which is what's happening now.Another important factor to consider - many feared working wth Ripple, worried the SEC would classify XRP as an unlicenced security.But between Coinbase listing it, and Moneygram implementing it - these fears seem to have largely vanished.With these obstacles removed - another big rally for XRP may be imminent. As long as there isn't any new, negative surprises around the corner - I can't imagine a scenario where these recent developments don't lead to some strong gains.-------