PayPal has agreed to enter a $400 million deal to acquire fintech company Hyperwallet Systems Inc. But did the online payment processing company pay for the acquisition using cash or the cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP)? Since its inception in 2000, Hyperwallet has grown to such a size that it is now able to disburse payments to more than 200 countries in a number of ways. Payments can be disbursed as bank transfers, PayPal payments or debit card deposits. As a result, Hyperwallet has become a trusted way for many individuals and companies to receive payment for goods and services sold via online marketplaces. Some of the companies using Hyperwallet include Amazon.com, Uber, WeChat, Air BnB, and HomeAway, the Expedia Group’s vacation home rental site. PayPal publicly acknowledges that acquiring Hyperwallet helps the company process payments for even more people around the world. It also connects PayPal to online marketplace giant Amazon.com. However, PayPal is also equally as public about refusing to use cryptocurrency as a mode of payments. So, in light of such negativity towards Ripple , could PayPal have used XRP to facilitate the acquisition of Hyperwallet? Possible connections between Ripple and Hyperwallet There have been some possible connections linking Hyperwallet to Ripple. In 2015, Gina Knight, the Senior Vice President of Treasury & Operations at Hyperwallet posted publicly on the company’s blog (1) that “Ripple could become a mechanism to expand real-time payments coverage around the world.” While the Senior VP is open about wondering whether the Ripple Protocol could be the next big outbound payment innovation, proving whether Hyperwallet is using XRP is not so easy. Yet back in 2013, Hyperwallet entered into an agreement with the Earthport Network in an effort to deliver more competitive payment services. By 2015, Earthport opening announced its partnership with Ripple (3). In more recent news, Amazon sellers can now facilitate international payments and transfers via Hyperwallet (2). Yet Amazon has also distanced itself from the option of accepting cryptocurrencies as a valid payment option for consumers. Despite the fact that so many big companies, payment processors and even banks are willing to deny using cryptocurrencies such as XRP, there sure are a lot of connections. It’s clear that Amazon is using Hyperwallet for some international payments. Likewise, Hyperwallet is partnered with Earthport, who is actively partnered with Ripple. Enter PayPal and its recent acquisition of Hyperwallet. The acquisition has finally allowed PayPal to take part in some of the payment processing for Amazon.com’s massive online consumer base. However, the definitive link between Hyperwallet, Earthport and Ripple is what connects the final dots as to PayPal using the cryptocurrency XRP to facilitate some types of payments. The dots might all connect, but they just don’t translate to PayPal buying Hyperwallet using Ripple’s XRP.