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Throughout the years there has been a lot of clashing, muddy and misaligning info about the roles and differences between the likes of OVL (Overledger), ILP (InterLedger), XRPL, SWIFT, but after 6 yrs I think I finally have clarity on the categorising. Please keep in mind, this is my own speculation (also first post here). Not incl. all relevant techs, it goes like this (if I'm wrong, pls do correct me): SWIFT - interbank msging/payments and traditional-settlement Sys. (will) utilise CCIP (via LINK) - to extend clients to dlt/blockchain for msging/payments. OVL - All DLT/Blockchain + Legacy Sys plug-n-play or bridge - data/msging/payments/mDAPPs-building OS. QNT - gas/transaction token for OVL. ILP - IoV or open-source protocol/pipelines for msging of value/payments interoperable with, or between, any ledgers (e.g. leverage external ledgers like the XRPL to instantly settle an on-chain, or on-ledger, or even cross-ledger, payment via XRP). XRPL - neutral/public/open-source consensus settlement & tokenisation layer/DEX. XRP - agnostic and liquid cheap/public/instant/neutral native settlement asset/currency. RippleNet (xCurrent) - Private Interbank & PSP instant msging/payments Sys by Ripple, or RTGS and direct competition to SWIFT. ODL (xRapid) - leverages XRP for instant settlement. Conclusions: Best to my knowledge, OVL seems to be on another planet in terms of possibilities/capabilities in the msging, smart-contracts and dAPPs department. It does seem to me that there is a sort of 'battle of the institutional payment/msging/data systems' that are/will be ongoing between: Systems/hubs built with OVL, SWIFT/LINK, RippleNet. SWIFTs leveraging of Chainlink via the CCIP is a (clinging-on-for-dear-life) direct competition to the likes of RippleNet and any payment systems possible with OVL. Additionally, It also seems to me that the best 'settlement mechanism', that makes the most sense for all these systems/ledgers (private/public) to be using (w/RippleNet already using), which really has no competition, is via XRP - made more accessible to any external/off-chain ledgers or private institutions (incl. those in an OVL and/or SWIFT/LINK Sys/environment), without the need for on-boarding onto RippleNet, and at global 'internet-like' scale, via payment msging through the open ILP. That is, unless you're an entity which is relying on a non-neutral, and probably biased and more illiquid (not to mention probably more expensive) asset or mechanism e.g. a particular CBDC or Gov-backed or dollar-pegged stablecoin (prone to a whole range of issues). Moreover, platforms like XinFin, Corda and Quorum will undoubtably all be involved in smart-contracts and institutional-grade trade-finance (XinFin being a hybrid network and combination of Eth/Quorum and Corda). Question I still have: Whilst there is a horde of evidence that the XRPL/XRP is being leveraged by Institutional OVL and Corda initiatives/arrangements/experiments, is there any clear evidence that SWIFT will possibly leverage the XRPL/XRP and if so will it be via Chainlink through the CCIP or via ILP? Apologies if this is too technical or hard to understand for anybody, contains errors, and for any grammar errors.

***THIS IS ALL SPECULATION*** First of all, if you haven't read my India & Gates Foundation post please do as it will be taking some elements to describe the environment in India. (SUMMARY: A FUTURE PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT COULD INVOLVE THE GATES FOUNDATION DISTRIBUTING CELLULAR DEVICES PRE-INSTALLED WITH AN APP CONNECTED TO THE ILP) India As a quick recap, there are two nation wide movements occurring in India. First, the development and deployment of a centralized biometric database called Aadhaar. Aadhar's purpose is to register and create a digital identity of every citizen in India, especially those that are living in both poverty and rural areas. And second, a governmental initiative on the financial inclusion of the very same people into the Indian finical system. How are these both related? These movements are converging with one another in the utilization of cellular devices. The Indian government, thru the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), issues an Aadhaar number to every resident in India that serves residents with a portable identity which can be authenticated anytime anywhere. The Aadhar number is a unique, 12-digit identification number that aids in creating a digital identity for the registree. Individuals that register to Aadhaar automatically gain the capability to purchase a cellular phone and open a bank account. https://uidai.gov.in/enrolment-update/aadhaar-enrolment/aadhaar-services.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/world/asia/02india.html With Aadhaar being utilized and broaden presently, payment systems have begun to be built on top of it. The NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) have recently launched the UPI (Unified Payment Interface) which allows banks to transfer money directly to one another based on a single identifier, such as the Aadhaar number. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/01/23/what-the-u-s-can-learn-from-indias-move-toward-a-cashless-society/?utm_term=.53085c17ae64 Another Source: http://www.npci.org.in/documents/UPI-Linking-Specs-ver-1.1_draft.pdf So where does Ripple fit in all this? Both Indian banks and the NPCI are in discussions with Ripple to facilitate account-to-account transfers globally, without having to be part of any payment network. http://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-services-and-applications/ripple-in-talks-with-npci-banks-for-a/c-transfers-globally/58393068 https://www.indianweb2.com/2017/07/15/makers-indias-upi-app-bringing-ripple-technology-india/ There also seems to be mutual interest between Ripple and Indian banks as Yes Bank and Axis banks have officially joined the Ripple network. Dilip Rao has also said in multiple occasions that there is increasing interest by other Indian banks. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Overseas-remittances-costs-to-reduce-with-new-system/articleshow/53767362.cms On top of this, there has been talks about a payment system being built on top of Aadhaar by the NPCI........ http://techcircle.vccircle.com/2017/02/20/microsofts-india-cloud-plans-get-booster-shot-as-flipkart-signs-up/ So who is Satya Nadella from the previous quote? Satya Nadella is the current CEO of Microsoft, another interesting connection. For those who don't follow the Microsoft and Ripple connection, please refer to my previous post "Ripple/Gates Foundation/India". On top of that Microsoft Azure BaaS has been running a Ripple validating node for quite sometime now. https://azure.microsoft.com/ru-ru/blog/azure-blockchain-as-a-service-update/ And just this past June a cloud provider had just been selected for a number of Indian banks. https://www.coindesk.com/indian-banks-select-microsoft-exclusive-cloud-blockchain-provider/ It's beginning to sound like another bank consortium that has been well publicized around here...... So Ripple has the interest and cooperation of two key parties in India. The NPCI and Microsoft, both who are developing and working on a payment infrastructure built on top of Aadhaar using Azure. We also know that rippled will have a Windows build available in the future. Is there any other connections to Ripple in India worth mentioning? Financial Software & Systems (FSS) in India has been working and cooperating with Ripple as well. FSS works on payments technology and transaction processing, offering business value in the areas of electronic payments and financial transaction processing solutions & services. http://www.fss.co.in/ How are we are of FSS and Ripple's partnership? Thru Dilip Rao's presentation during a FSS "Simple Payments" conference. And what is the significance of this company? FSS in the past had reached an agreement with 6 banks to provide UPI (NPCI) solutions. http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/fss-to-provide-upi-solution-for-6-banks/article8480485.ece While more recently FSS has launched "FSS Aadhaar Pay", a comprehensive biometric enabled merchant payment acceptance system that allows merchants to accept customer payments through their Aadhaar linked bank accounts without the need for a physical payment instrument. "FSS Aadhaar Pay", http://www.fsstech.com/news-events/fss-launches-fss-aadhaar-pay-to-augment-government-of-indias-digital-payment-initiative/ https://www.atmmarketplace.com/news/fss-supports-indias-cashless-payment-initiative-with-card-free-solution/ Which coincides with this development, (roughly same time frame) So three key parties in India with some shape of form of cooperation and interest with Ripple, all working on building a payment system on top of Aadhaar..... Towards the end of Rao's linked presentation in the FSS conference, he mentioned globalizing the Indian stack. He's been a busy man (this is one of two post I'll be sharing this week, I ended up complying too much information for one post) EDIT https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/npci-plans-international-remittance-on-upi-platform/articleshow/63540688.cms EDIT There seems to be an intention to incorporate cryptos within the Indian stack

Browsed around and didn't see this shared. Was supposed to be implemented months ago but the COVID pandemic delayed it's launch. Here's an article that discusses the recent development. https://www.pymnts.com/news/banking/2022/bank-of-tanzania-plans-february-launch-of-instant-payment-system/

Late last year, Xi Jinping gave a speech declaring that blockchain technology presented an important breakthrough on several key areas within China and that the government intended to utilize the technology. Xi Jinping claimed that the development of distributed ledger technology provided a pivotal moment in which it allowed the Chinese state to reform and improve the inefficiencies found within the Chinese financial market. Stating that “It is necessary to explore the application of ‘blockchain’ in people’s daily life, and actively promote the application of blockchain technology in the fields of education, employment, pension, data-driven poverty alleviation, medical health, anti-counterfeiting, food safety, public welfare, social assistance, etc”. (1) Xi’s speech was in stark contrast to China’s previous posture on blockchain technology, specifically on cryptocurrencies such as BTC. But the public statement displayed that the Chinese government had finally come to an understanding on the potential blockchain technology can provide to the state. Unfortunately, most crypto evangelists took the speech to mean that the Chinese market was opening itself to the publicly traded cryptocurrencies found in crypto exchanges. An appreciation in the total crypto market capitalization only reinforced this notion that China was simply going to adopt the current, open source blockchains present. Weeks passed and China’s historical stance on cryptocurrencies was further fortified when several crypto exchanges halted or ceased services amid speculation of a crackdown within the country. (2) A contradicting development to Xi’s previous speech earlier in the year. However, there has been collaboration and developments by the state in the background that would corroborate Xi’s statements. Financial Access 2020 The foundation was laid at the 2015 World Bank Group–IMF Spring meetings. These meetings resulted in the establishment of the Universal Financial Access 2020 (UFA2020) initiative. The World Bank Group along with both private and public sector partners, committed themselves to promote and enable global financial inclusion in a multi-year program. With the intentions of enabling individuals who are not currently connected to the financial system, to have access to a transaction account to store money while also being able to send and receive payments. Setting a goal of enabling one billion unfinanced individuals to gain access by 2020. Their approach being the development of a platform that has a biometric identity database, virtual payment addressing, and digital payment interoperability. (3) At the time, there were over 30 partners that committed towards the UFA2020 initiative. Participants that now include the likes of Alipay, Du Xiaoman Financial (Baidu), BBVA Microfinance Foundation, CFPA Microfinance, Confederation of West African Financial Institutions (CIF), MasterCard, Pakistan Microfinance Network, State Bank of India, VISA, etc. (4) With each of these partners doing independent projects or collaborations to meet the UFA2020’s target. One such program that was spawned from the UFA2020 initiative, was the Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI). A three-year program formed by the collaboration between the World Bank Group, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure (CPMI), and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The program is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (5) Their collective goal is “to support and accelerate the implementation of country-led reform actions to meet national financial inclusion targets, and ultimately the global ‘Universal Financial Access 2020’ goal”. (5) This subgroup plans to utilize the “work of the CPMI-World Bank Group Task Force on the Payment Aspects of Financial Inclusion (PAFI), the BMGF’s Level One Project, and the ITU Focus Group – Digital Financial Services, to deliver implementation solutions, deep topical analyses and practical investigations, working toward the goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020”. (5) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Level One Project is recognized by followers of Ripple due to the project’s development and intention of utilizing the Interledger Protocol to address interoperability between financial systems while helping lower the costs in developing inclusive payment platforms. Thru panels held at the FIGI symposiums, there is apparent dialogue and collaboration between the FIGI organization, the World Bank, and Ripple. (6) China The main purpose of the FIGI receiving grant money from the BMGF in 2017, was to accelerate financial inclusion in developing countries. With three countries being selected to be the focus of the initiative. Those countries being Mexico, Egypt, and China since they contain millions of unbanked individuals. (7) Ultimately, the development and progression of the initiative will be used as models for digital financial inclusion innovations around the globe. And regarding the selected countries, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) specifically requested support from the World Bank Group to aid in bridging the gap between the Chinese financial system and their citizens found in remote areas. (7) Interesting enough, the FIGI initiative aligned with other partnerships and projects in 2017. Partnerships that were composed of Ripple, Huawei, Mojaloop, etc. As some in the Ripple/XRP community might remember, officials from the PBOC visited the San Francisco Ripple offices in August 2017. (8) The community speculated on numerous possibilities on why Ripple was being visited by PBOC officials but there was no disclosed explanation of the meeting between Ripple and the PBOC. But looking at other announcements from 2017 chronologically, some perspective on the PBOC and Ripple meeting can be gained. First, the PBOC sought guidance and help by the World Bank Group to foster financial inclusion innovation within the country. The FIGI under the UFA2020 initiative, choose China to be one of the three countries focused on fostering innovation early 2017. In August 2017, the PBOC visited the Ripple offices in San Francisco. Two months later, BMGF and Ripple’s collaboration and development on Mojaloop was publicized. (9) Yet one aspect of the announcement on Mojaloop that was overlooked was that four mobile systems companies were brought to help develop an Open API for mobile money interoperability. Those companies being Ericsson, Telepin, Mahindra Comviva, and Huawei. (10) And with a document from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on “Digital Currency including Digital Fiat Currency”, we know that the Mojaloop API was designed by the four mobile companies that included Huawei. (11) Huawei and the BMGF have also been collaborating on promoting interoperability and financial inclusion since the previous year. Late 2016, Huawei announced partnership with the Gates Foundation on the Level One Project. (12) With the partnership focusing on developing “scalable, low-cost, interoperable and fraud resistant payment systems will be based on open Application Programming Interfaces (API’s) and help people in the world’s poorest regions improve their lives and build sustainable futures by connecting them with digitally based financial tools and services”. (12) Coincidentally occurring right when the Mojaloop API was being developed in the same Level One Project. Nonetheless, the Mojaloop API seems to be both an innovation and solution both Huawei and the BMGF sought to develop in their partnership. We know that the BMGF and Bill Gates himself, have been aware since 2016 ,of the potential revolution the Interledger Protocol can bring to the financial system1d. With Bill Gates even recognizing how Ripple’s technology can move money across countries efficiently and cheaply. (13) Although Ripple’s known involvement in China is thru LianLian Pay and some possible penetration thru third parties such as AirWallex, there appears to be a potential utilization of the Mojaloop API thru Huawei in FIGI’s project within China. This can potentially explain why Ripple expanded into China with the opening of offices in the country. (14) Outside FIGI Outside of FIGI’s scope in China, there are other developments with UFA2020 affiliates forming and investing in projects that could leverage the Interledger Protocol. A recent example involves a group of Ripple investors and partners raising capital for Currencycloud. Currencycloud is a UK startup that has developed remittance APIs that allows any financial business to integrate money transfer services thru Currencycloud’s platform. A duo of Ripple shareholders in SBI and Siam Commercial Bank participated in the Series E round for the UK startup. But interesting enough, VISA and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation also partook in the series round. (15) Two key members of the UFA2020 initiative. These investors intend to promote and utilize Currencycloud’s API for cross-border payments. While VISA has also entered a partnership with the UK startup. Thrugh the partnership, VISA plans to expand and improve their services by using Currencycloud’s platform. (16) Yet Currencycloud has another notable partnership with the Ripple associate, DWOLLA. DWOLLA is not only known for sharing a seat with Ripple on the US Faster Payments Council but more importantly, for their collaboration in developing the Mojaloop platform. (17) DWOLLA will be leveraging the UK startup’s platform to expand their network for coverage on 38 currencies in 180 countries. (16) And on a final note, Currenycloud has an impressive group of clients that includes The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (16) Furgther adding another affiliate to the assortment of UFA2020 and Ripple partners involved with Currencycloud. (16) Looking at announcements or projects through the perspective of promoting and expanding the Universal Financial Access 2020 initiative, one can conceivably see the purpose and structure of collaborations done by Ripple associates to possibly promote adoption of the Interledger Protocol. 1. https://medium.com/@mablejiang/xi-jinpings-speech-at-the-18th-collective-study-of-the-chinese-political-bureau-of-the-central-1219730677b2 2. https://cointelegraph.com/news/china-5-crypto-exchanges-halt-or-shut-services-amid-perceived-crackdown 3. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialinclusion/brief/achieving-universal-financial-access-by-2020 4. https://ufa.worldbank.org/en/partners 5. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialinclusion/brief/figi 6. https://twitter.com/DougMPearce/status/936176649963388928?s=20 7. https://www.devex.com/news/3-model-countries-selected-for-a-new-financial-inclusion-initiative-90778 8. https://twitter.com/Ripple/status/902201846592184320?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^902201846592184320&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcointelegraph.com%2Fnews%2Fripple-talks-with-peoples-bank-of-china-key-to-chinese-blockchain-market 9. https://ripple.com/insights/news/ripple-the-gates-foundation-team-up-to-level-the-economic-playing-field-for-the-poor/ 10. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2017/10/Bill-Melinda-Gates-Foundation-Releases-Open-Source-Software-to-Expand-Access-to-Financial-Services 11. https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/dfc/Documents/FGDFC-O-003.pdf 12. http://carrier.huawei.com/minisite/software/mobile-money/foundation.html 13. https://ripple.com/insights/why-bill-gates-believes-2016-will-be-the-year-of-financial-inclusion/ 14. https://www.asiacryptotoday.com/ripple-plan-expansion-to-shanghai-china 15. https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/26/currencycloud-nabs-80m-from-visa-world-bank-group-and-more-for-its-cross-border-payments-api/ 16. https://www.currencycloud.com/company/clients/ 17. https://modusbox.com/announcing-mojaloop-io-an-open-source-software-platform-for-financial-inclusion-to-uplift-the-worlds-poor/

https://www.coindesk.com/ripples-xpring-launches-crypto-fiat-payments-that-integrate-into-any-app Also a finextra one (in case you dislike coindesk) https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/34521/ripple-launches-xrp-developer-platform Or forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminpirus/2019/10/02/ripples-xpring-launches-developer-platform-to-bring-money-to-the-internet/amp/

Blog URL: https://coil.com/p/Hodor/You-Are-Not-Mistaken/j65U-s5O0 XRP fans appreciate hard facts and real business progress! I describe why 𝗫𝗥𝗣 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁 and address important news impacting XRP in today's blog: 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Elliptic, a business specializing in AML compliance, receives a massive infusion of capital from SBI in exchange for services, equity & a board seat. 𝐑𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Ripple is sending three representatives to the OECD's two-day conference in mid-September; Kotak Mahindra shares its perspective on Ripple technology in a recent video; Henrique Teixeira, Ripple's Director of Strategic Relationships in the Americas, is scheduled to participate at Cl@b2019; Identitii files a U.S. patent that includes multiple references to Ripple and XRP; Four more banks sign onto Money Tap, SBI's domestic payments platform; Ripple hires Ron Hammond as their Manager of Government Relations; and Equilibrium publishes a new guide for configuring two Interledger Connectors; 𝐂𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: The W3C's Ian Jacobs publishes an interview with Stefan Thomas; Stefan Thomas and Adrian Hope-Bailie will be attending TPAC2019, the W3C's annual meeting; and I highlight seven content creators on Coil; 𝐗𝐑𝐏 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: The Japanese XRP Meetup organizers publish more information; King Blue's fundraising for St Jude using the XRP Tip Bot now exceeds 100,000 XRP; Jonny Lawrence publishes a new GIF, following the one that went viral days ago; and JannaOneTrick publishes a regulatory fan video; I hope you enjoy the read: Please feel free to share my blog with a friend or share it on any other platform - and thanks for doing so! My blog announcement links on other platforms: Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Reddit r/CoilCommunity Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

Blog URL: https://coil.com/p/Hodor/Believe-in-the-Use-Case/wVlly8kWp 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, and there is one digital asset positioned for globally-scoped levels of usage and transactions. Learn more, and find out my take on all the latest news affecting XRP in today's blog. 𝐑𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Xpring fund Equilibrium, a company that will make participation in ILP much more easy for stakeholders; Coins.ph releases a video celebrating its RemTech Award and profiling its use of digital assets; Xendpay re-affirms its use of Ripple technology, this time for a Kenya corridor; and FortePlatform makes headlines in a new interview. 𝐂𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Cinnamon formally announces a soft test release of its video streaming platform. 𝐗𝐑𝐏 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Six independent websites exist where stakeholders can access information about validators on the recommended UNL; @hmatejx announces that he's going to create an automatic tool for tracking xRapid usage; Blockdaemon announces outsourcing service for businesses wanting to run an XRP Validator; and Poloniex adds new stablecoin pairings for XRP. I hope you enjoy the read: Please feel free to share my blog with a friend or share it on any other platform - and thanks for doing so! My blog announcement links on other platforms: Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Reddit r/CoilCommunity Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

Blog URL: https://coil.com/p/Hodor/XRP-News-Update-July-6th-2019/uqJp41yA7 There's a hidden gem in Ethan Beard's Xpring status report! Discover it & review the latest stories affecting XRP: 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: BIS publishes a paper analyzing BigTech's move into banking services; and Binance.US appoints a familiar face as its CEO. 𝐑𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Ethan Beard publishes the first status report for Xpring; and Ripple deploys a new XRP Ledger explorer. 𝐂𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Wietse Wind publishes the steps for those wishing to generate their own ILP Payment Pointer. 𝐗𝐑𝐏 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: XRPL Labs reveals initial UI screenshots for Xumm; and Nixer publishes fresh XRP Tip Bot statistics. I hope you enjoy the read: Please feel free to share my blog with a friend or share it on any other platform - and thanks for doing so! My blog announcement links on other platforms: Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Reddit r/CoilCommunity Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

Although arguments can be made against the notion of future adoption of the XRPL by the financial system thru supporting the retention of the current international payment system or emphasizing the technological progress in the SWIFT payment network, they fail to address critical flaws in today’s system. Hackers, political pressure, regulators, and the shrinking correspondent banking system are all legitimate issues that are impacting banking operations. Most international payments are facilitated through the SWIFT network today. SWIFT is a messaging network used to send and receive information on financial transactions between financial institutions. Currently, more than 11,000 financial institutions from around the world are linked to the SWIFT network for operations. Typically, the originating bank is required to have a working relationship with the destination bank in international wire transfers. If there is none, the originating bank can search the SWIFT network for a correspondent bank that has one with both banks.(2) Once found, the transaction is transferred through Nostro accounts held at the intermediary bank for a fee to the destination bank. Although SWIFT’s inception has proven to be beneficial in enabling international payments between banks globally, it’s reliance or the monopolistic position has become a double-edged sword. Due to their international relationships, SWIFT was viewed as an apolitical organization that was independent of any country’s domestic foreign policy. Unfortunately, this has not been proven the case the past few years as political disputes now threaten to fragment the international payments space. Regardless of your political views towards Iran, the United States pressure on SWIFT to disconnect Iranian financial institutions from the network has been unprecedented. While the action undergone by SWIFT contradicts the European Union’s desires. Although the EU intends to maintain trade with Iranian institutions, SWIFT complied with the US requests.(3) With the consequence being that now the international payment network has become weaponized to exert political pressure onto countries or regions. This undermines the trust within the network as participants can ultimately be on the wrong side of political discourse. Along with Iranian FIs, there has been heavy speculation from US media sources and diplomats that Russian financial institutions might face similar sanctions to their Iranian counterparts in the future.(4) Further eroding any participant confidence in SWIFT remaining apolitical. SWIFT’s inability to remain impartial to the network’s participants is already beginning to have repercussions. In Europe, there has been a political push back on the US influence over the payment network. Germany's foreign minister, Heiko Maas, has publicly stated that the EU should "strengthen European autonomy by creating payment channels that are independent of the United States — a European Monetary Fund and an independent SWIFT system".(5) Even more striking were Maas’ comments that the EU had already begun the process of developing an alternative payment system. Both Iran and Russia have also taken similar responses to the EU. Iran has begun implementing an alternative banking platform for banking transactions with foreign institutions.(6) Meanwhile, Russian financial institutions have prepared themselves to be disconnected from the SWIFT network at a moments notice and have begun to adopt another alternative payment system CIPS. CIPS or the Chinese Alternative Global Payments System is also an alternative payment platform provided by China. CIPS was intended to make transactions between China and Russia easier while enticing other countries to utilize the system.(7) Russia has also begun to develop its own payment system called the “System for Transfer of Financial Messages” (SPFS). Essentially, the global political environment has pushed regions or countries to develop or adopt alternative solutions to SWIFT. Creating an ever growing, fragmented international payment network that will require interoperability between systems. SWIFT’s security has also been exploited these past several years, further testing the participant's trust of the network. Along with the frequency of these hacks occurring, the severity of them is increasing. Of the top five biggest SWIFT hacks by money lost, four of them have occurred within the past two years.(8) The sophistication of these attacks is becoming so advanced for SWIFT’s liking that they have begun to issue warnings and urge participants to increase their security measures.(9) In some attacks, hackers have been able to order payments to banks in other countries by copying preformatted payment requests into the SWIFT messaging software. Even further eroding trust in the network’s security, it was discovered that the NSA had breached SWIFT’s security and have developed tools for its operations. Thru leaked documents and files by a hacker group, the public was made aware of how the NSA had accessed the messaging system. Possibly setting in an uncomfortable feeling for financial institutions located in Eastern countries that the SWIFT network is a possible vector for attacks. Structurally, the correspondent banking system has been on a gradual decline for several years while total volume and value of payments through SWIFT are increasing. The Financial Stability Board conducted a study in which the FSB found that from 2011 to the end of 2017, active correspondent relationships declined by 15.5 percent across all currencies.(1) While for 2017 alone, it declined by 4.1 percent. More recent studies have concluded that 2018 saw declines in active relationships and corridors of about 3.5% and 2% respectively.(11) With the global correspondent banking network now declining by about 20% and the number of active corridors having fallen by roughly 10% the past seven years. This decline in active correspondent relationships has also coincided with the increased concentration within the correspondent banking market. Remaining participants in the network have their market share increase as competing banks exit the system. Both these trends pose respective risks and issues to the banking system. An increase in the volume of payments with the decrease in the number of correspondent relationships is theorized to increase the length of the payment chains. Implying payments will need to be facilitated thru more intermediary parties to reach the same destination. Possibly adding more exchange or transaction fees along with increasing the settlement time. Meanwhile, a concentration in the correspondent banking market introduces an unwelcoming scenario. Theorized consequences include a decrease in the competition of services, leading to higher costs and more fragile networks. As the payment network relies on fewer participants to facilitate payments, the failure of a participant will have greater repercussions as they are more relied on. Ultimately, the global political environment is causing a fragmentation of the global payment system while the financial system is gradually entering a delicate state. Both trends have already begun to force global and financial institutions to adapt and find alternative systems. Regardless of what SWIFT can develop to enhance it’s services to its participants, there will be issues the organization cannot resolve. Interoperability will more than likely be the key in enabling the future global payment space to withstand any geopolitical shocks, along with providing a crucial capability if the financial system is under strain due to the structure of the correspondent banking system. Placing Ripple’s xCurrent or ILP in an advantageous position. 1. https://bankingjournal.aba.com/2018/11/basel-decline-in-global-correspondent-banking-relationships-accelerates/ 2. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/correspondent-bank.asp 3. https://www.ft.com/content/8f16f8aa-e104-11e8-8e70-5e22a430c1ad 4. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-diplomat-russia-should-release-ukrainian-sailors-by-christmas-/4688911.html 5. https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-wants-european-rival-to-us-backed-swift-payment-system-2018-8 6. https://en.mehrnews.com/news/139715/Iran-welcomes-foreign-banks-to-join-its-alternative-to-SWIFT 7. https://ethereumworldnews.com/after-ripple-chinas-cips-now-competes-with-swift-departure-from-us-dollar/ 8. https://medium.com/@kvantorcom/top-5-biggest-swift-hacks-52fca78145c 9. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-heist-warning/swift-warns-banks-on-cyber-heists-as-hack-sophistication-grows-idUSKBN1DT012 10. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-swift/hacker-documents-show-nsa-tools-for-breaching-global-money-transfer-system-idUSKBN17H0NX 11. https://www.bis.org/cpmi/paysysinfo/corr_bank_data/corr_bank_data_commentary_1905.htm

Blog URL: https://xrpcommunity.blog/xrp-news-update-may-30th-2019/ As we near the beginning of June, keep up to date on the latest XRP developments! I cover the high points in my latest blog: 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: The SEC will be holding the 2nd 'Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Digital Assets' tomorrow. 𝐑𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Dan Morgan attends a World Bank FinSac meeting; Marjan Delatinne attends the European Blockchain Convention; Breanne Madigan, a former Goldman Sachs employee, decides to work for Ripple; Simple, a new remittance platform, was build in partnership with Ripple; Money Tap announces a new merchant program; and Interledger releases videos from the April Interledger Summit in San Francisco. 𝐗𝐑𝐏 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Two videos are released from the latest XRP Meetup in The Netherlands showing presentations from Wietse Wind and Bitrue; The design for Xign is shown by Wietse Wind; Taotao adds support for XRP; and imove adds wallet support for XRP. I hope you enjoy the read: Please feel free to share my blog with a friend or share it on any other platform - and thanks for doing so! My blog announcement links on other platforms: Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Reddit r/CoilCommunity Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

Blog URL: https://xrpcommunity.blog/introduction-to-xrp-2019-edition/ Just published the updated, 2019 version of an "Introduction to XRP" on the XRP Community Blog! I hope you enjoy the read: Please feel free to share my blog with a friend or share it on any other platform - and thank you for doing so! My blog announcement links on other platforms: Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Reddit r/CoilCommunity Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

Blog URL: https://xrpcommunity.blog/the-global-economy-needs-instant-value-transfer/ The global economy wants - 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙨 - real-time payments! I cover this & the latest news impacting XRP in today's blog: 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Readers should strongly consider supporting Christine Lagarde, the current Managing Director of the IMF, as she champions serious debate of digital assets. 𝐑𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Ripple donates one million dollars to Tipping Point, a local San Francisco non-profit; And the first ILP Summit is announced. 𝐂𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: Ben Sharafian peppers social media with some recent innovative Coil-related code snippets for developers to use. 𝐗𝐑𝐏 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: A new version of XRP Validator software is formally announced after the end of the voting period; the XRP Community Fund announces a bounty for a WooCommerce plugin; A member of the Good Souls Group (XRP Charities) announces a fund-raising campaign & t-shirt raffle for Children on the Edge; Fidelity announces a soft rollout of their new institutional custody and crypto exchange platform; SBI re-targets this July for roll-out of their real-time trading on SBI VC; HuobiGlobal announces support for XRP in its OTC platform; and QB.com, a Hong Kong - based crypto exchange, announces support for XRP; I hope you enjoy the read: Please feel free to share my blog with a friend or share it on any other platform - and thanks for doing so! My blog announcement links on other platforms: Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

Link to Blog: https://xrpcommunity.blog/xrp-effecting-change-and-promoting-digital-asset-adoption/ XRP and its stakeholders are effecting change in the cryptomarket and leading the charge for digital asset adoption. In this blog, I describe how we are helping others understand the details about XRP and its value proposition; I also cover the latest news affecting XRP over the last few days! ?????? ????: A video of CoryTV onstage at Unbound Miami recently hit the airwaves. Ripple hires Amir Sarhangi away from Google, and Evan Schwartz releases a exceptional new blog titled "Layer 3" that goes far beyond 'Layer 2' off-chain protocols. ????: Adrian Hope-Bailie from Coil clarifies that Multi-hop is not specific to Ripple & that it's an inherent function of ILP. ??? ????: /u/RareData releases the XRP Toolkit. (If you love the MyEtherWallet application, you'll probably love the XRP Toolkit) Wietse's team (@WietseWind, @baltazar223 and @ThisIsTriss) release a new version of the XRP Tip Bot, with new features. XRP Balance is a new site that provides an XRP price prediction algorithm. XDEX might eventually be one of the largest exchanges in Brazil, and the Swiss Investment Fund announces that they'll handle custody of XRP for banks. Finally, guidance was issued on XRPL sharding, and how a new version of the XRP API will allow developers to request specific history shards. I hope you enjoy today's blog! Please feel free to share my blog with anybody you wish & on any platform - and thank you in advance for doing so! My Blog announcements on other social media platforms (anybody is welcome to post in others such as r/Investing, but be careful to follow posting rules that are different in various sub-reddits): Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

Ever want to send a link to a friend that explains the basics of XRP compared to Bitcoin? In today's blog, I go over all the basics of XRP, including its features, capabilities, and include some of the major differences between it and other networks. While it's not an in-depth treatment of 'all-things XRP,' it serves as a convenient reference document if you're looking for a short explanation to share with somebody new. I hope you enjoy the read; leave any feedback below. Feel free to share my blog with a friend - or on any other platform - and thank you for doing so! Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

Saw this posted on Reddit. I didn't see anyone post a link here. Very interesting discussion by Stefan Thomas about ILP + COIL

Handy links for the ILP > Website: https://interledger.org/ > Documentation: https://interledger.org/overview.html > Tutorials: https://medium.com/interledger-blog > Protocol Specs: https://github.com/interledger/rfcs > Discussion: https://gitter.im/interledger/

Hi guys, I want to know how many xrp's should I own but I cant find a baseline for it. so just wondering if you want to share how many xrp do you own (roughly) and what price would you sell it at (again hypothetical at this stage)..so that I could get the consensus of experience people like you... thanks a lot for your reply. and I am sorry If i sound bit intrusive... I own about a million xrp but not sure if that is sufficient to look forward to a good profit... (I am prepared to lose the whole lot in case of worst scenario )

Come mix and mingle with Los Angeles Fintech Tuesday July 31st. Learn about the newest and fastest changes going on in financial technology. Finance is undergoing a massive change some call the "financial paradigm" or "crypto wars". Laws from 1930-1940 (old right?) are getting broken down with technological innovation in finance. Find partners, talk about your project, bounce ideas, discover LA Fintech. RSVP HERE

XRP Continues to set the standard. In today's blog, I cover an enormous amount of recent news and high-profile media coverage of Ripple, XRP, and Codius. Included are several videos you won't want to miss, along with the latest news that impacts XRP. There is also a bit of analysis about the future direction of XRP given recent developments like the founding of Coil. I hope you enjoy the read! Please leave any feedback below - and feel free to share my blog with a friend or on any other platform - and thank you for doing so! Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

In my latest blog, find out why strategic thinking leads us directly to XRP! Does XRP compare to Bitcoin or Ethereum when crypto investors are making their portfolio choices? I don't think so. With the latest developments from Ripple & Coil, and xRapid's status as the only digital asset with a comprehensive liquidity solution for financial institutions, it's tough to find much upside in the competition. I hope you enjoy the read & please leave any feedback below. Also, feel free to share my blog with a friend or on any other platform - and of course thank you for doing so! Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

https://medium.com/coil/standardizing-payments-with-the-payment-handler-api-1bb8cefa702d

You'll want to read my blog to find some items you may not have known about before Blockchain Week in NYC starts this week! What do I cover in this latest entry? I reveal the two surmised reasons for the market downturn two days ago, who Ripple is sending to Consensus, and discuss the guidance that the SEC provided for cryptocurrencies. In addition, I tell you about a professional organization called YPO that visited Ripple headquarters a few days ago - it's a news story that most mainstream media didn't pick up. In addition, I cover the speculation about Apple adopting the new Payment Request API, formal xRapid cost savings confirmation, and I reveal updated wallet statistics. I hope you enjoy this latest edition: Please leave any feedback below. Feel free to share my blog with a friend - or on any other platform; and thank you for doing so. Twitter Reddit r/Ripple Reddit r/CryptoCurrency Reddit r/CryptoMarkets Reddit r/xrp Reddit r/RippleTalk Reddit r/alternativecoin Bitcointalk - alt coin sub forum Bitcointalk - XRP speculation thread

https://medium.com/interledger-blog/use-interledger-with-moneyd-gui-21dee0dc8ba0 "Moneyd aims to make it as easy as possible to join the Interledger network. Now, Interledger is even easier to use thanks to the Moneyd GUI." Additional Tutorials are at Interledger Blog: https://medium.com/interledger-blog