Fintech firm Ripple has announced the launch of its latest product, the Ripple liquidity hub, a solution for businesses to bridge the gap between crypto and fiat currencies. The service operates as a stand-alone solution in addition to Ripple’s popular cross-border payments service, on-demand liquidity (ODL). This makes it a global liquidity network offering its partners access to payout rails worldwide.
Ripple’s liquidity hub has been developed from an enterprise point of view to offer digital assets from various market makers, including crypto exchanges and over-the-counter trading desks. When an enterprise partner requires liquidity, it can source it from these large pools of deep liquidity, including United States dollars, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).
Interestingly, the product launch finds no mention of XRP (XRP), the crypto token issued by Ripple. XRP has been central to most liquidity products and services the fintech firm offers, especially cross-border liquidity services. However, XRP was mentioned among digital assets in the company’s pilot phase.
The omission of XRP from its liquidity pairs could be attributed to the company’s ongoing court battle in the U.S. with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ripple has been accused by the SEC of selling XRP as an unregistered security, and the company is currently fighting this claim in court.
Despite this, Ripple claims that its liquidity solution will considerably reduce the cost of operations on high-volume transactions. This is done by optimizing cryptocurrency pricing and liquidity across asset pairs. The liquidity hub eliminates the need to pre-finance capital positions to source liquidity or conduct transactions. The service reduces complicated multiplatform administration requirements by enabling organizations to access digital assets in a single place. Additionally, the service locks in optimum pricing for digital assets to protect companies from market instability and price swings.
Ripple has made a name for itself in the fintech world for offering various liquidity solutions and cross-border remittance services. Its popular ODL solution has onboarded several banks worldwide to provide cheap remittance services with the help of cryptocurrencies.
The Ripple liquidity hub is the latest offering from the company and marks its continued push to become a leader in the fintech industry. By providing businesses with access to deep liquidity pools across various digital assets, Ripple aims to make it easier for organizations to conduct high-volume transactions without incurring excessive costs. Although XRP is not mentioned in the product launch, it remains a central part of Ripple’s liquidity products and services.
In conclusion, Ripple’s liquidity hub is a step forward in bridging the gap between crypto and fiat currencies. The service offers businesses access to deep liquidity pools across a range of digital assets, reducing the cost of operations on high-volume transactions. With its ongoing court battle with the SEC, Ripple’s decision to omit XRP from its liquidity pairs is a strategic move to protect the company’s interests. Despite this, Ripple remains committed to providing businesses with innovative solutions that simplify cross-border remittance services and provide access to deep liquidity pools.
Despite the ongoing legal battle with the Securities Exchange Commission, Ripple reported a 97% increase in sales of XRP for Q1.
Ripple posted its Q1 markets report on May 6th and revealed that total sales net of purchases had gone from $76.27 million in Q4 2020, to $150.34 million in Q1 this year.
Ripple noted the surge in sales was led by the growing demand for RippleNet’s working capital service On-Demand Liquidity or ODL:
“The increase in XRP sales can be attributed to deeper engagement from key ODL customers. For well over a year, Ripple has not sold programmatically.”
The firm added: “Ripple continued to engage in sales to support ODL and key infrastructure partners as part of providing increased XRP liquidity to improve the ODL experience of certain customers, eliminating the need for pre-funding and enabling instant global payments.”
According to CryptoCompare, total sales by Ripple accounted for just 0.07% of global XRP volume.
According to Ripple, ODL enables RippleNet clients to source instant liquidity in XRP that can be converted into international currencies within three seconds, removing the need to hold pre-funded accounts for international payments.
The company also reported that over the quarter, three billion XRP had been released from its massive escrow holdings — however 2.7 billion XRP had been returned to new escrow contracts.
Some have attributed XRP’s recent resurgence in part to Ripple labs’ purchase of a 40% stake in cross-border payments firm Tranglo, which was acquired to expand its ODL service into Southeast Asia.
Sheraz Ahmed, the host of the Crypto Valley Association podcast and managing partner at Storm Partners, a crypto and blockchain solutions provider, told Cointelegraph on April 9th that:
“XRP’s upward momentum is fueled by Ripple’s newly announced 40% stake in Asia’s leading cross-border payment processor, Tranglo. The partnership will undoubtedly increase Ripple’s exposure to the Asian market.”
Additionally, wallets holding between 1 million to 10 million XRP grew by 6.3%, up from 1,125 in Q4 to 1,196 in Q1.
The SEC case alleging Ripple Labs of selling unregistered securities worth $1.3 billion, does not appear to be preventing big players from increasing their holdings. The report revealed that the number of XRP whales had increased 3.5% in Q1. The firm posted data via Santiment, which showed “whale wallets” holding 10 million XRP or more increased from 308 in Q4 2020, to 319 in Q1 2021.
According to data from CoinGecko, the price of XRP is up 648% in the past 12 months. John Wagster, an attorney at Frost Brown Todd spoke with Cointelegraph on April 18th and attributed XRP’s mammoth gains to the bullishness in crypto markets in general, rather than to the firm’s recent set of legal wins in its defense of the SEC case.
In the past 24 hours more than $14 billion XRP changed hands and currently sits at a price of $1.59, with a market cap of $73 billion.
