Welcome to the latest bi-weekly roundup of the most discussion-worthy news content related to Ripple’s blockchain network and cryptocurrency XRP, in addition to a brief look at periodical price movements.
October 22nd
Ripple Opens Office In D.C. To Lobby Lawmakers
Ripple has opened up a brand new office near Capitol Hill, to be located in Washington D.C and comprised of a specialist ‘government relations’ team headed up by new hire Michelle Bond.
In the announcement, Ripple reiterates its belief in the importance for “policymakers to be armed with industry knowledge to help them shape conditions that will enable technological innovation to thrive”. Understandable when considering the widespread ignorance of technology often displayed in congress.
The company claims it believes the best way forwards in compatting this lack of awareness and understanding, would be to directly address policymakers, hence the establishment of this new office.
“Blockchain and digital asset technologies have the power to engender greater financial inclusion and economic growth.
To realize the full potential of these technologies though, industry leaders must come together to educate policymakers on the global impact.”
Brad Garlinghouse (Ripple, CEO and Board Member)
Michelle Bond holds the official title of ‘Global Head of Government Relations’, a role she will carry out as the leader of the Washington D.C. office. She will also sit as a representative on the board of the Blockchain Association, which Ripple joined this month.
Other new hires for the D.C. office include Ron Hammond, Susan Friedman and Craig Phillips. Phillips recently joined the board of directors at Ripple, and previously served as Counselor to the Secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department – as well as being a former Managing Director at BlackRock.
“I am pleased to join the Ripple board at this critical juncture in the company’s history as it uses blockchain technology to improve the speed, reliability and costs of cross-border payments between financial institutions…
Participating alongside the distinguished group of current directors, senior advisors and the Ripple management team is a unique opportunity that allows me to leverage my interest in this important technology and innovation.”
Craig Phillips (Ripple, Board Member)
October 18th
Bank of America Working On Undisclosed ‘Ripple Project’
From a now-closed job vacancy advertisement post: it has been revealed that the Bank of America is hiring towards, and potentially already working on an as-of-yet (officially) unannounced ‘Ripple Project’. Back in June, the bank registered a patent relating to a Ripple technology solution.
Posted onto the LinkedIn job board: the ad appealed to applicants seeking a ‘Treasury Product Manager’ and featured a brief description of the role. It also described the Ripple project as “a decentralized ledger technology based solution to cross border payments marketed to GTS clients”.
It also suggests that the technology will be used to bring:
“Enhancements to existing products and creation of new products to ensure consistent client experience and seamless integration across products, while maintaining full risk and compliance management.”
LinkedIn Job Listing (Posted By LinkedIn)
Successful applicant to be accountable for driving expansion and partnerships with Bank of America’s partners using the new technology. Other duties include: working with regional partners to develop expansion strategy and business cases; and driving product strategy and growth.
The role explicitly states that the applicant “does not require specific blockchain experience.
In recent Bank of America news: earlier this month, the bank experienced a “major outage” which affected many of its customers as recorded through social media posts and registered complaints.
October 18th
Ripple Releases Q3 Markets Report
“For Q3 19, our total XRP sales were $66.24 million vs. $251.51 million in the previous quarter.”
In the recently released Q3 markets report on its ‘Insights’ blog, which leads with self-congratulations regarding a planned reduction in sales promised last quarter. The company had previously announced its expectations of reduced sales numbers as a result of its efforts towards better controlling the monitoring and tracking of sales data.
Ripple is also departing from CoinMarketCap and CryptoCompare Top Tier, in addition to having paused programmatic sales part-way through Q3. The report claims that this was done so that the team could shift resources to help grow over-the-counter (OTC) sales via global strategic partners.
“Bots on Twitter… They comprised 49% of the share of conversation about BTC, 71% about ETH and 50% about XRP… In Q3, bots have been more active in conversations around XRP, with the number of unique bots rising and engaging”
According to Ripple, there was an increase in XRP-related FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) in Q2 that has persisted into Q3 with a greater number of what the company is describing as ‘Twitter bots’ focusing on XRP than before. Whether or not all of the online criticism Ripple is talking about can be attributed to bots is yet to be seen – but it’s unlikely.
The core issues which Ripple is worried about are: ‘dumping allegations’ and ‘price manipulation’.
Q3 Highlights (according to Ripple)
- Ripple sold $66.24 million XRP in Q3 2019, a 73.7% decrease in sales in XRP QoQ, as measured in USD.
- Overall market capitalization of digital assets decreased in Q3, with the overall market cap losing 30.4%. XRP price declined 35.4% QoQ.
- Three billion XRP were released out of cryptographic escrow, 2.30 billion XRP were returned to escrow.
- XRP is now listed on over 140 exchanges worldwide.
Information correct as of 14:03 PM (GMT), 4th November 2019
