While price remains way below where it should be, partnerships, infrastructure, adoption continue to grow and now the world’s financial elites are discussing Ripple tech.

The Federal Register released a document on the 6th Dec naming XRP explicitly as a virtual currency that can settle cross border payments without the banking system.

It also mentions Ripple’s ever-growing list of partnerships and the payments system they are creating which offers more clarity than the traditional Swift system.

The continued growth of “fintech” non-bank remittance transfer providers & their further expansion into partnerships & other relationships with banks & credit unions, which allow such entities to tap into the closed network payment systems; that non-bank remittance transfer providers have developed & the continued growth & expanding partnerships of virtual currency companies, such as Ripple, which offer both a payments messaging platform to support cross-border money transfers as well as a proprietary virtual currency, XRP, which can be used to effect settlement of those transfers Federal Register Website

The document comes from a government entity called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB set up to promote financial fairness for consumers in the U.S.

Essentially XRP gives banks peace of mind in knowing exactly what their payment fees will be before sending payment, a luxury the current Swift system does not provide.

The Bureau has continued to monitor the remittance transfer market since the publication of the Assessment Report and observes that most of these developments continue to progress. Developments such as“fintech” non-bank remittance transfer providers and their further expansion into partnerships and other relationships with banks and credit unions, which allow such entities to tap into the closed network payment systems that non-bank remittance transfer providers have developed The Bureau also believes that expanded adoption of Ripple’s suite of products could similarly allow banks and credit unions to know the exact final amount that recipients of remittance transfers will receive before they send the transfer. Federal CFPB Document

In a Senate Banking hearing, SEC chair Jay Clayton was quizzed about crypto and huge changes like ODL which are revolutionizing the global banking industry.

Clayton responded to a clearly confused Mr. Crapo, chair of the hearing who felt said changes were far off on the horizon and not of immediate concern.

Chair Clayton responded bemused, clearly shocked at the committee’s lack of knowledge on digital assets and the fundamental changes that are already here.

Mr. Crapo – This year Facebook revealed its intention to develop its own cryptocurrency called Libra, the SEC is one of a number of regulators who would have juristiction over Libra. Can you speak about how the SEC are working to be responsive to market developments & trends like cryptocurrencies. Mr. Clayton – I’m not going to speak about the particular product it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to do so. The announcement (Libra) was a focal point for regulators of different types to recognise the digitization of the plumbing & other aspects of our financial system including payment transfers.. It is coming, the natural economic forces it unleaches such as removing fat from the system.. It’s happening. We have to recognise it is happening & recognise our mission, safety & soundness investor protection, fair markets & ensure that as that digitization takes place we are being true to those principles. Senate Banking Hearing

His words mirror those of Brad Garlinghouse when asked about Facebook’s Libra announcement, Ripple partners and potential customers saw it as a major call to action.

Check out the footage below from the hearing (27:40) and watch Clayton’s body language, the financial system is about to be turned on its head by digital assets like XRP.

Massive shout out to @aydentrading for covering the session.

Mr Clayton – But we should not be fighting that digitization If we fight it, it will simply go around us. Mr Crapo – I assume that when you say it is coming… Mr Clayton – Ah sir, I’m sorry. Its here!! Mr Crapo – Next year?! Mr Clayton – No no, it is here, now

And finally, ECB chief Christine Legarde has long been a big fan of currency digitization and during a recent ECB press conference, she discussed financial digitization.

Careful as always in distinguishing the differences between Bitcoin, stable coins and virtual currencies like XRP – described the exact same way in the Fed document above.

We need to draw a line under what we are talking about between Bitcoin, stable coins & a digital currency. And on the latter point, the digital currency we have set up a task force, & we will accellerate on the activity of this task force, drawing on the resources of the entire Euro system meaning the national central banks that already participate in that research, that have already commited to the project in terms of experimentation, pilots here & there. So harnessing on all of those experiments & the research that has already taken place, together with the work that has been done here also (ECB). Christine Lagarde’ ECB Conf

If Lagarde’ is not speaking of RippleNet, it’s growing list of partner banks, all the testing, and experimentation over xCurrent/xRapid during the past few years…

Then RippleNet has a very serious competitor out there which has achieved exactly the same but with zero public coverage, and Ripple is doomed. Not a chance.

We aim to do all this by May 2020 but we need to identify the purpose first. Are we trying to reduce costs, are we trying to cut out the middleman, are we trying to have inclusive finance at no cost. There are a whole range of objectives that can be persued. I know thaere is some great interest in this from outside our (Euro) area like Canada, the UK & countires way beyond are also looking very deeply into this to see if it makes sense, the purposes it serves & how we can best deliver on it Christine Legarde’ ECB Conf

For us at XRP Ripple News all of this points to regulatory clarity on the horizon, global mass adoption within the banking sector and it will accelerate dramatically in 2020.

Decide for yourself on the video below from 57:00, again huge thanks and Happy Birthday to @aydentrading for this video!