In light of XRP’s strong performance this year, Ripple’s General Manager has announced that they are planning an aggressive expansion for their cryptocurrency in the coming months.
In 2020, XRP has performed very well, gaining a 225% increase in value. XRP also topped the monthly charts in earnings on the top 20 cryptocurrencies for November with a 169% recorded gain. XRP currently has a $21.4 billion market capitalization, making it the third most dominant cryptocurrency, with Bitcoin and Ethereum coming before it.
After this ranking went public, Ripple’s General Manager Asheesh Birla explained in a new podcast from Lend Academy explained that Ripple is planning an aggressive expansion for XRP in the coming months. This expansion will focus most on the product On-Demand Liquidity of the cryptocurrency.
Birla had this to say regarding this expansion on their On-Demand Liquidity for other countries:
“With the cryptocurrency product, you can send into I believe three destinations around the world. We’re expanding that aggressively in 2020 and 2021. We are going to continue to expand ODL, On-Demand Liquidity. I mentioned this is in a few countries as destinations. We want to get global coverage of that where possible by the regulators.”
Birla also explained that being above every regulatory framework around the globe will play the most important role in this expansion. Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO, has emphasized before that he has often considered leaving the US as a location for their operations. This is because of the uncertainty as to whether XRP is classified as a security or not. He also previously mentioned considering London in the United Kingdom as their possible new location. XRP is classified as a commodity in the United Kingdom, and it will be subject to better-defined laws compared to the US.
In a previous interview, he stated how if the United States of America does not provide XRP with a clear framework to operate, Ripple will need to move to another location unless they want their shareholders to leave the company. Birla also described how the two most important On-Demand Liquidity users, MoneyGram and Azimo, are the strongest drivers of the need for international expansion.
“The traction has been so good that you know, 10% of US dollar to Mexico which is the largest corridor in the world for remittances, 10% of that now moves over blockchain technology, digital assets, and RippleNet.”
Birla also noted that even more companies and individual users are starting to realize that banks are necessarily the absolute best avenue for moving money across international borders. More and more entities are realizing the possibility of using digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies and tokens, as a way of transferring money cheaply, quickly, and reliably.
