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Ripple's XRP cryptocurrency has more than tripled in one week.

The company hired a Facebook communications manager to keep up with demand.



Ripple, the company behind the third-largest cryptocurrency, has hired Tom Channick to serve as its head of communications. Channick, who will start January 2, previously served as a corporate communications manager for Facebook's advertising and business integrity unit.

"I am honored to join Ripple, and very much look forward to working with the global team to continue to build the internet of value," Channick told Markets Insider in an email. "Developing technology that let's people and businesses move money as fast as information is incredibly important, and I'm excited to help Ripple achieve that goal."

The move comes the same week that Ripple's cryptocurrency, XRP, more than tripled in price, from $0.253 to $0.775 per token, and overtook bitcoin cash as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. It trails only bitcoin and ethereum by that measure.

Ripple, which was founded as Ripple Labs in 2012, is based in San Francisco. The firm is using blockchain technology to speed up global payments and transfers, most of which currently use an outdated network called Swift, which can take days to send money.

Those payments are facilitates through its cryptocurrency called XRP, which saw major gains this week thanks to newly announced partnerships and tests with major banks and financial firms.

In 2015, Channick was named to Business Insider's 50 best public-relations people in the tech industry for his work with the advertising software company Sharethrough. Before that he worked for the agencies WE communications and WCG.

Markets Insider

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