The whole blockchain space has been picking up in terms of awareness, adoption and development since the jump from the $3000 - just like most people said it would. The price is irrelevant, the overall development of the space is the key factor behind the long-term potential of the ecosystem.

One token/platform that has been doing particularly well is the XRP token, which has received both good and bad news in the past month or so - mostly good though. This article will go over the major events that have happened in the XRP ecosystem in the last month/month and a half.

1. Xendpay Joins RippleNet

In perhaps what is the biggest development in the last month for Ripple, money transfer service Xendpay has joined the RippleNet.

Xendpay has joined the RippleNet because it wishes to transfer money in currencies apart from the US dollar. The XRP token, which banks use to reduce costs and transfer times, also praise Ripple for offering this feature. With XRP, Xendpay will be able to open new corridors in several countries, helping migrant workers, students and small businesses transfer money internationally more efficiently and cost-effectively. The official announcement refers to Africa, where Xendpay just launched, and many Asian markets.

This is an important use case, one that is repeatedly stressed in reports and analyses on the blockchain industry. Xendpay’s Head of Product Innovation Bhavin Vaghela explains it best,

Most of our customers are migrants who are sending money back home. This money is vital to support their families: to pay rent or mortgage, electricity bills, medical fees and education costs. Being an online service allows us to reduce our overheads and pass the savings on to these clients, for whom every penny counts.

2. Coil Partners with Mozilla and Creative Commons for $100 Million Grant

Ripple-supported blockchain software development company Coil has partnered with both the Mozilla Foundation and Creative Commons to launch a $100 million to the end of incentivizing users and developers to better monetization of the web.

Called “Grant for the Web”, the official announcement by Coil says that “The Web today is suffering from the symptoms of a broken business model”, and refers to a lack of privacy, the exploitation of data, broken subscription models and unfair revenue distribution - problems that other projects are also tackling.

The grant is aimed at getting people to promote the Web Monetization standard. For example, users could reward their favourite content creators directly with a cryptocurrency - eliminating the need for a third party that may get an unfair share of the money and consolidate power.

The program is expected to last for 5 years with the money steadily being distributed over time. The announcement also mentioned that certain key features had already been developed, like the Puma Browse; a video sharing entity called Cinnamon; and two wallets.

3. CEO Brad Garlinghouse Responds to XRP Dumping Accusations

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse was interviewed on CNN by Julia Chatterley on September 12, and spoke a lot about Ripple and what it is that it does.

Most significantly though, Garlinghouse spoke about the allegations that Ripple has been dumping tokens on the market, thereby making the price more precarious. It has caused such an uproar that some have threatened a hard fork, while others have started a petition to increase the number of XRP tokens.

The CEO said that it was not in the best interest of Ripple to be dumping tokens onto the market i.e. it would be for Ripple itself. He said,

In the XRP community, Ripple is the largest owner, and we are the most interested party in the success of the XRP ecosystem.

4. Garlinghouse Also Said that Ripple is in a Strong Position

In early August, Garlinghouse was interviewed by Yahoo Finance, where he showed his optimism for Ripple and XRP - a recurring theme in his statements made in 2019. The interview was conducted following the $30 million investment in MoneyGram, which drew a lot of attention.

Garlinghouse was speaking under circumstances much discussions and rumours were made with respect to Ripple’s acquiring of entities. He said,

We’re in a very strong position, our business is growing strongly, we have a strong balance sheet, and I intend to press our advantage.

He continued to show a lot of confidence in the company itself,

Anything we can do to accelerate our growth and give us more capabilities that serve customer needs is a good place to be. We’re probably the largest investor in blockchain and crypto on the planet. We’ve publicly announced we’ve made about $500m [of investments] in the space over the last 18 months.

And that’s about it in terms of the exciting stuff that has been happening within the Ripple ecosystem. 2019 has been a fantastic year for Ripple and I expect it will only get better as we head into 2020.