The Ripple protocol and its associated cryptocurrency, the XRP, are spreading around the industry and continually expanding their services to reach more markets and, ultimately, people. After all, XRP continues to be on the upswing at the time of writing this piece, trading at $0.31 (up 1.17 percent in the last 24-hour period.)
After XRP was added to the Coinbase list of offered cryptocurrencies last week, now it is Huobi’s turn to host Ripple: to be more precise, the Peer to Peer (P2P,) Over The Counter (OTC) department of the Chinese exchange is the platform that will incorporate support for the market’s third largest digital asset by market cap.
A Wide Array of Cryptocurrencies Supported
The news that Huobi OTC started to offer support for XRP was published via a press release on Wednesday, March 6th. Therefore, Huobi OTC will now support assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), Eos (EOS) and Huobi Token (HT.)
The newest OTC update can be accessed by users in 24 different currencies across the globe; among them are USD, GBP, CND, CAD, EUR, and more. The maker fee will vary for different currencies, but the taker fee, on the other hand, will be set at 0%, according to reports.
For reference, an Over-The-Counter marketplace is a decentralized platform that has no central physical location, and the participants perform direct operations through telephone, email, and proprietary electronic trading systems. In this ecosystem, the dealers act as market makers and they quote the prices at which they are going to buy or sell a determinate security, currency, or financial product.
An Escrow to Dealers
Huobi OTC is, therefore, a different marketplace than the regular Huobi exchange. The company’s web page states that the former’s objective is offering an exchange bridge between fiat and digital assets, serving as an escrow to dealers that post ads for selling or buying on the platform.
The press release quotes one of the biggest authorities of Huobi Global, Livio Weng (currently acting as its CEO) as saying that the Huobi OTC marketplace is crucial to the company because it represents Huobi’s primary onramp and “main platform for users who prefer peer-to-peer trading.”
Right now, Huobi Global is well positioned among the user’s preferences when it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges, being ranked as the eight largest such company in the planet by daily trading volume, with an impressive $738.6 million exchanging hands on average every 24 hours.
The Future of Crypto Trading Is Here
It is becoming evidently clear that institutional investment represents the future of crypto trading, and it is no coincidence that most platforms, including Huobi, Binance, and Bittrex (among others) have recently decided to launch or develop their own OTC platforms.
The phenom is, slowly but surely, spreading around the globe and achieving worldwide reach, as about February, South Korean’s primary digital assets exchange Bithumb also made the launch of its OTC trading desk official.
By Andres Chavez
