Ripple Opens New Office in Washington D.C. and Makes Several Board Additions

Andres Chavez
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Ripple Opens New Office in Washington D.C. and Makes Several Board Additions

Ripple, the worldwide-known blockchain payments ecosystem, is trying to ensure that the technology keeps spreading around the planet and, in an effort to strengthen its advocacy towards the distributed ledger and cryptocurrencies, it announced that it opened a new office in the United States’ capital city, Washington, D.C.

“We are thrilled to announce that Ripple has expanded our global regulatory team and is the first major blockchain company with a dedicated GR office in Washington D.C. To help advance trust and innovation in blockchain and digital asset technologies, we are now a member of the Blockchain Association, and Michelle Bond, Ripple’s Global Head of Government Relations, will sit on the board,” the firm stated.

Getting to Know the Blockchain Association

The Blockchain Association is an industry institution that aims to promote the blockchain tech and is tasked with building relationships between companies through the development of distributed solutions.

“We are excited to be included as members of the Blockchain Association—an association playing a key role in shaping our shared digital future. The Blockchain Association provides a unified voice committed to building deep partnerships between technology leaders and policy makers,” the firm explained.

The announcement came in recent hours. Ripple said that being on the nation’s capital will help it expand its global regulatory staff in their quest of providing guidance and education to regulators and lawmakers about the benefits of applying the blockchain technology.

New Faces, New Horizons

Somewhat lost in the whirlwind of news and the opening of the Washington office was the fact that Ripple will have a new face in its board of directors. Craig Phillips, who used to help the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, has joined Ripple’s high hierarchy.

According to the firm, the newcomer will bring “depth” to the policy leadership staff and will also be an important advisor when it comes to “strategic regulatory opportunities”
in the company’s never-ending growing process.

“In his new capacity as a Ripple Board of Directors member, Phillips will provide counsel to Ripple’s leadership team and advise on strategic regulatory opportunities as Ripple expands its global network. Most recently, he oversaw regulatory framework development for the financial system under Executive Order 13772 as well as efforts to enhance the financial sector’s cybersecurity through the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy,” Ripple wrote.

Another Experienced Newcomer

Ripple’s regulatory department will also have Susan Friedman, who was a senior adviser to Heath Tarbert (the CFTC Chairman) when he was working for International Markets at the Treasury, and Ron Hammond, who used to be a legislative assistant to Rep. Warren Davidson.

Ripple said that “in the U.S. and abroad, it’s important for policymakers to be armed with industry knowledge to help them shape conditions that will enable technological innovation to thrive. At Ripple, we look forward to continued conversations with policymakers and are building a team that brings a wealth of legislative and policy experience.”

By Andres Chavez

Ripple Is now Being Tested by Bank of America

Willmen Blanco
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Ripple Is now Being Tested by Bank of America

In today’s competitive world, cryptocurrencies pose an advantage for any company. Bank of America knows it very well, which is why it would be working with Ripple.

With the passing of time, Bitcoin and other crypto assets have ceased to be a mere curiosity for computer geeks. Now, cryptocurrencies are a competitive advantage for any company that knows how to implement them correctly. Therefore, it is not surprising to see large companies like Bank of America working with crypto companies like Ripple.

The Role of Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin, along with other cryptocurrencies, was originally conceived as a means to boost the process of economic decentralization worldwide. It allows democratizing finances and giving independence to the monetary policy of governments and their bad administration.

Therefore, cryptocurrencies had from the beginning a core of values ​​related to Blockchain technology, as well as to postulates such as freedom, autonomy and a certain anti-establishment trend within the crypto community, which attacks large companies and governments alike.

However, cryptocurrencies have not limited themselves only to their original mission of decentralizing economy. They have gone further and have become instruments of the very same companies that are part of the power structures opposed by BTC.

Of course, the best expression of this trend is Ripple, the financial technology company dedicated to the development of solutions based on Blockchain. It has become a space among the world’s largest financial companies, offering revolutionary capabilities thanks to the use of blockchains.

Ripple and Bank of America

It should be noted that Ripple and its cryptocurrency XRP allow international financial operations to be conducted at a rate not previously seen in the sector. Until now, cross-border transactions had been complex processes that required many intermediaries and, therefore, charged very high fees for their conduction.

Ripple has come to solve this problem, using its blockchain as a means of sending fiat money. Thus, operations that previously took several days to execute can now be performed in less than five (5) seconds for very small fees.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Bank of America, one of the most prestigious financial institutions in the world, is now working with Ripple. According to a report, the American bank would be conducting tests with the Ripple platform for sending money.

Bank of America had already been part of the Ripple’s Global Payment Steering Group since 2016. However, it is now when the financial institution is beginning to test the ways in which Ripple can be integrated into its business model. It has also been announced that they will continue conducting more tests in the months to come.

It should be noted that this has been chosen as data of the day because of the importance that this operation has in the financial world. The fact that a large traditional company like Bank of America is starting to test Ripple technology shows to what extent Blockchain technology has managed to permeate the financial sector, until becoming a crucial element for any company that seeks to be competitive in the market.

By Willmen Blanco

Car Rental Payment Simplified with this Application through Lightning Network

Willmen Blanco
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Car Rental Payment Simplified with this Application through Lightning Network

The winner at HackMobility 2019 talked about why Python is his favorite language. Fodé Diop works with the idea of ​​launching a stablecoin for the nations in West Africa.

Last July, a Senegalese programmer called Fodé Diop was one of the winners at the first mobility hackathon, which was held in San Francisco, California. He was noted for presenting the development of Litrides, an application that allows paying for the rental of cars as it integrates the Lightning Network invoicing system.

Diop talked about his project during an event on interactivity with the Bitcoin Lightning Network in Python held in Estonia at the end of September, where the Senegalese software engineer gave a talk.

In his presentation Diop provided details about his proof of concept, with which he demonstrates that Bitcoin Lightning Network offers a fast and economical way for anyone, with a mobile device, to ensure that they get around the city without relying on a credit card.

He says to be in love with the Bitcoin protocol and its various second layer solutions, such as Liquid and Lightning Network. Since he learned about the decentralized network for Bitcoin instant micropayments, he became interested in learning enough so as to participate at a hackathon. HackMobility 2019 suddenly emerged as an opportunity to create an alternative to help reduce the saturation of the world’s transportation system. His project was one of the best at the event, which earned him the prize for first place in one of the categories.

Litrides is an alternative for anyone to be able to rent their vehicle, without intermediaries or credit cards, generating economic resources while allowing other people to get around the city paying for the service through the Lightning Network, indicated Diop in his presentation.

As an example, the following is explained in Litrides Devpost: “My name is Alice and I am a developer of autonomous software. Unfortunately, the projects have been slow to arrive and I need to earn extra money to cover my bills. I have recently heard about a service called Litrides, where I can rent my car to another individual and earn a healthy amount of cryptocoins. I visited Litrides, signed an account and made my vehicle available in the short term.”

Having won at the hackathon in San Francisco, Diop adds that he would love to have other people build on his project, which is open source. Now he is working on other ideas, such as a stablecoin for West African nations.

This software engineer talks about his most beloved programming language, Python, which he believes is very important to discuss and learn how Bitcoin works, since it is a simple language.

Diop considers that programmers should not use a complex language to learn a complex subject. The language should be simple to learn a complex subject and this makes it easier to work on step by step, “maybe small pieces for small pieces, like real works of art,” he adds.

A close encounter with Bitcoin

Diop tells about his encounter with Bitcoin in 2011, when he decided to move from San Francisco to Las Vegas to ​​make known an application that he was developing, which allowed using an iPhone to find the best parties in the city.

He had heard of a talk about Linux and Bitcoin, which he then decided to attend. The meeting allowed him to discover that Bitcoin was promising, so soon after he started to read its white paper.

Already in San Francisco, he found it difficult to find a job as a junior programmer, a truly competitive career in that territory. He attended a meeting on blockchain technology in Oakland and continued increasing his knowledge. He even got his first job at a company where he could relate directly to cryptocurrencies.

Several years have elapsed since then, already in love with Bitcoin and Lightning Network, and Diop still experiments in the depths of the network, dreams of meeting everyone, people like Elizabeth Stark, CEO of Lightning Labs and the Australian programmer Rusty Russell, defender of free software, whose work he follows closely.

By Willmen Blanco

Attribute of Trust Only Possible with Blockchain Networks, says Telefónica

Willmen Blanco
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Attribute of Trust Only Possible with Blockchain Networks, says Telefónica

The company’s most disruptive project allows employees to be rewarded with tokens. Blockchain Activation is considered as one of Telefónica’s most ambitious projects.

With the idea of ​​participating in the construction of the networks of the future, Spanish-based telecommunications corporations, Telefónica, decided to work with blockchain technologies two years ago. With a history of over 95 years and operations in more than 16 countries, it has seen that blockchain is among the technologies that provide the attribute of trust.

The future travels through communication networks and blockchain allows providing those networks with the necessary trust, according to José Luis Núñez, Head of the Telefónica Blockchain Competence Center. He remarks that the use of blockchain makes it unnecessary to talk about security, reliability or privacy, since those attributes are already present in communication networks.

He emphasizes that, thanks to the attribute of trust, nobody has to validate, certify or audit what is happening on the network, since the network itself will do it through that new blockchain layer.

Núñez explains that the benefits offered by this technology are measured at Telefónica on the basis of the impact of the different projects, considering what they call the “magic blockchain quadrant.”

The Magic Blockchain Quadrant

The term “magic blockchain quadrant,” proposed earlier this year by the Telefónica blockchain team, refers to the development of a conceptual framework around this technology, which allows understanding the impact of projects and initiatives in different areas of innovation.

This quadrant groups the initiatives into three large families, depending on the nature of their impact on the business. This identifies a first group of projects, aimed at improving companies’ current business situation, creating efficiency and savings in existing products and services. This group may include initiatives that are conducted in many supply chains.

There is also a second group, whose objective is to transform business through the implementation of new models and sources of income in existing markets. Projects linked to digital identity would fall into this classification.

Additionally, a third type of initiatives arises. These are those “that really disrupt companies and even industries, creating and opening new markets.” Most of them have to do with “tokenization” processes.

Ongoing Projects at Different Levels

Among the most disruptive projects, Núñez cites experiences with tokenization dynamics in the Karma project, through which they promote token rewards for more than 2,000 Telefónica employees, on the basis of their individual contribution to the company, beyond the requirements of their jobs.

However, he believes that the most ambitious project is Blockchain Activation, of the accelerator network Wayra. It was recently activated, inviting emerging companies to register for free in order to test, for about six months, the modules implemented in the Telefónica network.

Núñez highlights the role played by the new TrustOS operating system in this program, which he considers to offer the attribute of trust that characterizes blockchain. The solution facilitates interactivity between applications, programs or operating systems. He clarifies that their best bet is to simplify the transfer of the necessary trust to the networks and give everyone access to it, making the complexity of the technology transparent.

The operating system is based on a middleware layer. This software is located between an operating system and the applications that run on it to allow communication with other applications, programs or operating systems.

By Willmen Blanco

Bitcoin.com Completes the Acquisition of O3 Labs, a Blockchain Software Startup

Andres Chavez
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Bitcoin.com Completes the Acquisition of O3 Labs, a Blockchain Software Startup

Bitcoin.com made an exciting announcement in the last few hours: it has completed the acquisition of O3 Labs, a blockchain startup that makes it business by developing gateways to the digital economy, as reported by a press release.

The primary objective of the alliance will be fostering a proper ecosystem to realize the full potential of the Bitcoin Cash network by developing the tools needed, and for that, the addition of O3 Labs will be crucial.

Under Bitcoin.com’s name, the two entities will now be one team, and together will work to build the foundation of the next generation of mobile financial resources and services.

Trying to Change the World through Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin.com identifies itself as an entity that tries to “change the world with Bitcoin Cash (BCH).” It has a free wallet app which lets users manage both BCH and BTC with ease, as well as global mining solutions, coverage of crypto industry news, and other crypto-focused products. They are “committed to making BCH available to people of all ages, genders, nationalities, and financial backgrounds.”

Meanwhile, O3 Labs is known for its app development resources, and Bitcoin focused on that as it seeks to develop tools that users can understand with ease and use across several platforms including mobile, web, smart devices, and more. The idea is to use them all to bring together partners, community, and financial services with Bitcoin.com.

The CEO of Bitcoin.com Stefan Rust explained that “with the O3 team joining Bitcoin.com, we look forward to accelerating services in our mobile applications serving anyone in the world with an internet connection, regardless of nationality, socioeconomic status, or access to traditional finance.”

According to the executive, “this will give users the ability to manage, grow, and spend while doing business with whomever they want, whenever they want, without the need for traditional banks or financial intermediaries. Our mission is to make money work for everyone, building tools and products that help people access Bitcoin Cash, a global financial system that’s fast, affordable, and available to everyone.”

Permissionless and Private Transactions

Bitcoin Cash provides “open, borderless, permissionless, censorship-resistant, private transactions,” and Rust observes that “these core principles are at the heart of every service and product we offer at Bitcoin.com. We have known its importance for a long time and now the entire crypto industry is beginning to see this as well. We welcome the O3 Labs team with open arms to join us on this incredible adventure.”

Bitcoin.com has been increasing the number of services it provides in recent times. For instance, it developed an anonymous peer-to-peer BCH trading platform and a cryptocurrency exchange. A couple of months ago, the Bitcoin.com Wallet was integrated into the HTC Exodus 1 blockchain smartphone.

The Bitcoin Cash-related services suite also operates an office in Tokyo, Japan, and is closely linked to the Japanese crypto world. At the same time, O3 Labs is widely known around the industry for its role in developing user-friendly tools to enhance blockchain access.

By Andres Chavez

Seller of a Church in The United Kingdom Accepts Cryptocurrencies as Payment

Maria Rodríguez
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Seller of a Church in The United Kingdom Accepts Cryptocurrencies as Payment

The exact amount that a potential buyer can pay for the property will be defined depending on the price of Bitcoin.

In the United Kingdom, the sale of an old church was published with a price of approximately US $ 1.5 million, about 1.2 million of sterling pounds. However, the seller explained, through a publication, that he could accept Bitcoin (BTC), as a method of payment for the property.

This old church dates from a construction made more than 150 years ago. Now, it has been remodeled and converted into a house with 7 rooms. To date, the property is for sale for USD 1.5 million, but this price could change if the real estate market conditions vary.

The publication of the sale was also made online through a digital platform called Right Move. The most important aspects of the publication are the payment methods, as well as the fact that the specific seller would accept Bitcoin as a way to pay and acquire the property.

The amount of BTC that would be accepted for the sale of the house was not detailed, but the publication explains that if someone wants to use this form of payment, he or she should contact the seller since the owner is interested in negotiating and then define the exact amount he would receive for the sale of the house. Usually, the market price of digital currencies should be evaluated to prevent unexpected falls, among other factors. This is the reason of the negotiation.

The publication is a strong proof and example of the impact that cryptocurrencies are having on the global market, reaching the point of being considered as a common currency for the exchange of goods and services. It is important to note that the use of cryptocurrencies for sales of this nature has been conducted very rarely, but now everything indicates that it could become an increasingly frequent factor.

It resulted to be a great leap for the crypto-industry that this property can be offered for sale in cryptocurrencies. If this is now an option, it means that there must be, not only one person interested in selling the property in Bitcoin, but that there is enough market or people willing to buy the property using this means of payment.

This turns out to be a breakthrough for the cryptocurrency industry and even for property sales markets since this alternative would increase the purchase options and facilitate liquidation, that is, the termination of the purchase-sale contract. In addition, the expansion of the options increases the chances of selling the property, energizing the market.

Another aspect which stands out is the enablement, by online sales in platforms likes Right Move, of the option to pay for the property with cryptocurrency. This demonstrates commitment to customers who hope this payment method is included for the sale of their property, and in turn, the platform’s confidence in digital currencies is evidenced.

By María Rodríguez

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