Ripple CEO Fields 8 Questions on State of Ripple and Future of XRP Cryptocurrency

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple fielded questions on Tuesday about the state of the ripple project and future of XRP cryptocurrency. Here is what he said.

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple fielded questions from Quorans on Tuesday about the state of the ripple project and future of XRP cryptocurrency. Quora sessions are similar to Reddit AMAs where select luminaries respond to questions from the community. Popular questions ranged from the future of the XRP currency to why investors should take a look. 

Brad answered these 8 questions that summarize the current state of Ripple and its plans for the future.

On adoption by banks

Brad revealed they were running pilots with undisclosed financial institutions and more had expressed interest in testing Ripple's payment network. Some customers are already on board the company's xRapid offering; a liquidity solution pegged to Ripple's XRP native currency.

Ripple is out to remedy the payments problem in emerging markets where costs from multiple currency intermediaries add up significantly.

Brad is patient that banks and payment processors will come round to digital asset networks.

On why investors should put their money into XRP

Brad underscored why it is essential for investors to understand the difference between Ripple the company and XRP the network's native currency.

He expects XRP, a digital asset native to the XRP ledger to grow in value with growth and adoption of Ripple's product. Ripple solves a fundamental gap on the internet, a value payment network fused with the web. Their product takes out the friction in facilitating cross-border payments.

Brad divulged signing up global financial institutions to Ripple's service that has culminated in a network effect pushing the company forward. He expects this momentum to drive demand for XRP and eventually manifest in market value.

On whether banks can create a clone of Ripple

Brad believes while it is possible in theory, in practice it is redundant for banks to issue their own digital assets. Even if they did, it could only settle payments between banks that took part in issuing the asset.

His opinion was universal digital assets are fundamentally superior because anyone can use them from anywhere in the world. It is why they are unique. He is confident XRP is ideal for banks to use as a universal settlement currency.

On how Ripple is revolutionizing finance

With Ripple, Brad is helping turn the internet into the internet of value. He was part of the early days of the internet and witnessed the 20 years of evolution leading up to today. In his opinion, there is no reason why sending money or value should not be as efficient and smooth as sending a tweet or DM.

Their first target is the $55 trillion cross-border opportunity that currently relies on antiquated payment infrastructure and a broken SWIFT messaging system.

Enabling the internet of value will unlock entirely new business models and industries, boost financial inclusion and connect billions across the world in a way they can transact instantly.

On why Ripple plan to lock up 55 Billion XRP

Brad said he was aware of the market's jitteriness over the 61.68 billion XRP stash that speculators say could be dumped at any time. In May, Ripple  announced it would lock up 55 billion XRP in a cryptographically secure escrow by the end of 2017. With a verifiable maximum supply, investors can verify the escrow and be at ease.

Without going into details, he confirmed the company was on track to stick to their commitment.

On the difference between XRP and other cryptocurrencies?

Brad highlighted two features of XRP while drawing comparisons with Bitcoin, the most capitalized cryptocurrency in the industry today. He said



He went on to add that XRP is optimized for institutional payments with high performance which sets it apart from peers.

On whether Ripple is centralized

Brad was clear the Ripple network is decentralized in part because the survival of XRP was not dependent on the going concern of Ripple, the company.

He added the network is in transition to increase the number of attested third-party validating nodes. They plan to decrease the number of Ripple nodes by one for every two new third party nodes.

On whether to expect any significant announcements at upcoming SWELL event

Brad declined to share details on Swell but promised the event would be live-streamed on Ripple's website.

Swell is an invite-only event that will gather leaders in payments, blockchain and banking in Toronto on October 16 - 18. Inventor of the internet, Sir Tim Berner Lee is scheduled as a keynote speaker.

Typically, significant announcements in the cryptocurrency industry tend to be bullish for prices. It is not unreasonable to expect a ‘pump' in price if some new information is made available to the public at swell.

Look out for any news and XRP price movements in the week leading up to the Swell event in Canada.

See Brad’s full session on Quora.