Today we have a Daily Token Review and three really awesome cryptocurrency news segments to share with you. When it comes to today’s news, first up we have Ripple, a San Francisco-based financial technology project that has now inked a strategic partnership deal with Ria Money Transfer, one of the largest financial services platforms in the world, to enable the latter to use RippleNet and xCurrent for international payments. Second up, Blockchain technology, which is the building blocks of bitcoin and most altcoins, has reached another significant milestone in its journey to mainstream adoption, as the U.S. state of Washington has passed a bill protecting the legality of records stored on the distributed ledger. Thirdly, the continued economic crisis in crypto-friendly Venezuela has taken the Bolivar to Bitcoin transaction volumes to a new all-time high.
As seen on CoinMarketCap, we’ve got a mixture of greens and reds on the market, with a pretty positive overall market. The world’s flagship cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC) has increased by 2.86 percent. Ether (ETH) still maintains its “second in command” status, and it’s currently gaining by 1.24 percent. Ripple’s XRP maintains the number three position, and it has decreased by 0.39 percent.
Now, if I scroll down to the top 20, we’re also having a mixed scenario across the board. In terms of the top 20 though, Cosmos has shot to 15th spot with a 12.99 percent increase! Now if I research as to why this may be the case, it looks like Cosmos has experienced the Binance effect, an increase tokens experience after being listed on Binance the major cryptocurrency exchange.
Now, onto the news! According to a report by The Daily Hodl, Ria Money Transfer, a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide, a United States-based provider of electronic payment services, has joined Ripple’s RippleNet blockchain network, in a bid to use xCurrent to facilitate financial transactions. For those who are unaware, xCurrent is an enterprise blockchain solution that allows financial institution on Ripple’s network to carry out super fast, secure and cheap cross-border payments with end-to-end tracking.
Interestingly, the new alliance appears to be a quite symbiotic one, as Ria has made it clear that Ripple will also be able to use its Digital Integrated Payments Cloud to complement its existing solutions. Commenting on the matter, Michael Brown, CEO of Euronet Worldwide reiterated that the firm remains dedicated to using its highly functional technology to assist projects like Ripple which are actively revolutionizing the global financial ecosystem. In his words: “We are using our technology to actively support parties who are making inroads to disrupt the more traditional players by providing them with state-of-the-art technology and immediate access to our expansive physical network, which would take years to build from scratch.”
While Ripple has constantly been in the news of late for its good works, this latest alliance with Ria is very significant, as it would enable the latter to integrate Ripple’s cutting-edge solutions into the existing technologies its uses in servicing its customers who are present in more than 155 nations across 377,000 locations globally. Juan Bianchi, CEO of Euronet also stated that: “At Ria, we have developed the second-largest Money Transfer network in the world along with a best-in-class compliance program all connected by our proprietary technology. Ria’s integration with Ripple serves to build rails for an innovative payment infrastructure that seeks to provide easier access to potential partners while delivering faster and cleaner payments to its users.”
Now, onto the second news item for today! Per a report by Cointelegraph, Washington state governor, Jay Inslee has signed a bill into law, recognizing and protecting the legal status of electronic documents stored on the blockchain. Reportedly, the original version of the bill had its first reading by the Washington state authorities earlier in January 2019 and the bill, which has now passed with 96 to 1, will go live in July 2019.
Now, what does this mean for the groundbreaking distributed ledger technology (DLT) and its enthusiasts? With the new law in place, blockchain-based documents now have the same or even better credibility as paper documents and all forms of discrimination against electronic documents stored on a distributed ledger, are now prohibited. “An electronic record may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is generated, communicated, received, or stored using blockchain technology,” reads a clause in the new law. It’s worth noting that Washington is not the first state in the United States to recognize the validity and legality of blockchain technology and smart contracts, as Tennessee governor, William Edward Haslam, signed a similar bill into law in March 2018.
Now, onto the third news item for today! According to a report by CCN, more and more residents of crypto-friendly Venezuela are now buying bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets in a bid to cushion the negative effect of the raging economic crisis in the state. Specifically, in the final week of April alone, Venezuelans spent an impressive 36.5 billion Bolivars (roughly $3 billion) on bitcoin (BTC). Presently, it seems residents of the nation will keep purchasing cryptocurrencies to remain on the safer side of things, as Venezuela’s opposition leader, Juan Guaido remains determined to orchestrate a coup in the country.
So what are your thoughts on this situation?
Do you think Ripple’s latest partnership with Ria is the exact catalyst for mainstream adoption of xCurrent? What are your thoughts concerning the new blockchain bill passed by the state of Washington? And what are your thoughts about the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies in Venezuela? Will it spur other jurisdictions facing similar problems to turn to bitcoin? Let me know what you guys think below. If you liked the content, please subscribe and watch our latest videos. It’s Cindy with CryptoPig, Catch you guys around!
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Disclaimer: Cryptopig content is written by a team of blockchain passionate people. We are not registered as investment advisors. Don’t take the information in this post as investment advice and make sure you do your own research before investing. Cryptocurrencies are a very risky investment, never invest more money than you can afford to lose.