Ripple's Global Expansion: From Stablecoins to Strategic Bank

In the ever-evolving tapestry of the blockchain and cryptocurrency world, Ripple Labs has been weaving a new thread of innovation and expansion. Over the past two months, Ripple has not only introduced Ripple USD (RLUSD), a game-changer in the stablecoin arena, but has also stitched together strategic partnerships that span continents. From enhancing payment corridors in Portugal to securing a foothold in the Middle Eastern financial landscape with Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank joining RippleNet, Ripple is redefining the boundaries of digital finance. Let's dive into the ripple effects of these groundbreaking moves.

Ripple USD (RLUSD) Introduction

Ripple announced the introduction of Ripple USD, a fully-backed US dollar stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, enhancing functionality and opening new possibilities for developers.

Ripple USD Trading Availability

Ripple USD was made available for trading on platforms like ZeroHash and Revolut, expanding its reach and utility in the crypto market.

Ripple USD Launch on Global Exchanges

Ripple USD was launched on global exchanges, including MoonPay, Uphold, CoinMENA, Bitso, and Archax, aiming to provide instant global payments, seamless on/off ramps, and access to real-world asset value.

Partnership with Unicâmbio in Portugal

Ripple entered a partnership with Unicâmbio, Portugal's leading currency exchange provider, allowing corporate customers to move funds instantly between Portugal and Brazil using Ripple Payments.

New Money Transmitter Licenses in the U.S.

Ripple announced the acquisition of new Money Transmitter Licenses (MTL) in New York and Texas, alongside plans for growth in customer onboarding and hiring in the U.S.

Integration with Chainlink

Ripple USD (RLUSD) adopted the Chainlink standard for verifiable data to enhance DeFi adoption by providing real-time, secure pricing data.

National Commercial Bank (NCB) of Saudi Arabia Joins RippleNet

The National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, the second-largest bank in the Middle East by total assets, officially joined RippleNet, indicating a significant move for cross-border payment solutions using Ripple's technology.

With all of these announcements, XRP is still in a tight trading pattern between $2.50 USD at the upper end and $1.79 at the lower end. This tells me one thing. The large financial institutions are holding XRP trying to get as much as the can for themselves and trying to tire out the retail traders (us) so that we are out of the way. Any large corporation that had these many announcements, and high quality ones, over the last 60 days would have their stock soaring on Wall Street.

Although I cannot give any financial advice, I will tell you what I am doing. I keep 30% of my XRP long because we never know when things will change and we wake up to $100 XRP tokens. The other 70%, I swing trade. I AM NOT going short, again, you don't know when you place a "short" hoping for it to go to $2.00 and then it goes to $100. I exit to USDT, wait for it to drop 3-5% and then purchase "long". My goal is to increase the number of XRP that I own. XRP is a utility token that is being adopted by major financial institutions and will eventually be a SWIFT replacement. This will one day make XRP soar to BTC values. Remember, I was the guy that purchased BTC at $0.11 and sold at $0.54. I know you might get tired of me reminding you of this, but I don't want you to miss the XRP boat and say, "I should have listened to Tim."