Techonomy 2018, an annual thought leadership conference on the acceleration of technology and how it’s changing business, hosted an interview with the Chief Market Strategist at Ripple, Cory Johnson. He shared insights about blockchain technology and how RippleNet is utilizing XRP to power a new payment layer for the internet.
How Ripple is Improving Cross-Border Transactions
Johnson pointed out the tribulations of sending money across borders. He explained how slow, inefficient, and costly the global financial system is for moving money across borders and how there is no payment layer for the internet.
This is the problem Ripple is aiming to solve.
In an effort to describe the way Ripple is solving this problem with XRP, Johnson provided an example of sending money internationally through Ripple’s xRapid system.
With the sending of money from Thailand to the US as an example, xRapid can convert Thai Baht into XRP and send it digitally to the US across the Ripple network and then convert the XRP into USD — all in a matter of minutes.
As Johnson put it:
So the state of the art is, one financial institution tells the other financial institution, ‘We want to move $1,000 in Thai baht to the US right now. It’s going to result in ‘X’ number of dollars. Are you cool with that? Click Yes.’ Boom. Within a minute or two it’s done… Our notion is that there is no payment layer for the internet. We’re creating a separate internet. RippleNet is the phrase we use.
Ripple, “the Most Advanced Company in All of Blockchain”
When asked about crypto and the blockchain industry as a whole, Johnson stated that he believes companies will end up utilizing the technology in the future — and that as of now, Ripple is the front runner.
It is early, but I think we’re probably the most advanced company in all of blockchain. We’ve got over 100 paying customers. We’ve moved over a billion dollars across our network. We’re opening new corridors. I joined the company nine months ago – the company was doing about a deal every six weeks. Now it’s about every six days.
Johnson also expressed positivity about the future of blockchain and cryptocurrency:
I do believe that there will be many businesses that use blockchain and even use digital assets, cryptocurrency, whatever you want to call it, for technological solutions. It’s just very early days.
XRP Price Remains Stable
Despite the recent market downturn, the price of XRP has remained fairly stable in comparison with the rest of the market.
While Bitcoin (BTC) is down 20% and Ethereum (ETH) is down 27%, XRP is only down 15% from the market-wide plunge on November 18. Additionally, not only has XRP’s market cap has surpassed Ethereum’s, it has remained in second place for quite some time now.
Crypto enthusiasts and XRP hodlers are keeping a close eye on Ripple’s developments as the crypto continues to make headlines and generate newfound interest.
However, only time will tell if XRP continues to hold up against other major cryptos in this bear market.
