Ripple (XRP) Swell 2020 – What happened?

Ripple (XRP) had its annual swell conference to discuss the future of the cryptocurrency. However, this year the conference was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Anyway, this article will cover everything that went down at Ripple’s swell conference. We will also offer some price predictions on the future of Ripple (XRP). 

XRP Swell Speakers and Topics

This section will cover the speakers and topics that those speakers discussed. 

Brad Garlinghouse

The conference started on October 15th with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse discussing RippleNet’s expansion. For those that don’t know, RippleNet is the financial network that powers Ripple and allows low fee payments across borders.

Garlinghouse painted a very optimistic view of Ripple by mentioning that there is tremendous pressure by banks to reduce the fees they pay for international transfers. Of course, this is great news for the future of Ripple. 

Mahesh Uttamchandani – World Bank Representative

Mahesh Uttamchandani spoke at RIpple Swell 2020. He spoke positively about Ripple and the positive impact that it might have facilitating financial transactions across borders. 

However, he did mention potential infrastructure problems that could arise with Ripple. The fact that a World Bank representative spoke at Swell has led to rumors that Ripple will partner with the World Bank at some point in the future. 

Line of Credit Announced

Ripple officially announced and released a line of credit program. Much of Ripple Swell 2020 focused on discussing this new line of credit system. 

Basically, the Line of Credit product will allow customers that already have on-demand liquidity to borrow XRP. The main difference being that the loan is repayable in local currency rather than XRP. 

This allows Ripple to collect more fiat currency, which will greatly improve the working capital of Ripple. 

The advantage to end users, though, is that they get access to capital in 24-48 hours rather than the standard 2-3 months that this process normally takes. As with many Ripple products, Line of Credit is aimed at small and medium sized businesses rather than individuals. 

That said, financial experts were very pleased with the Line of Credit system and view it as a positive step to turning Ripple into a full service financial institution.

Bank of America Partnership?

Ripple did not confirm or deny the rumors surrounding the potential Bank of America partnership. These rumors began when a commercial featuring a user sending money on the Bank of America app circulated on Twitter. 

The lack of confirmation or denial from Garlinghouse is a positive sign of a potential partnership, though. And that would be tremendously positive news for Ripple. 

On Demand Liquidity (ODL) Panel

An on demand liquidity (ODL) panel was held with some of Ripple’s clients – Flash FX, Bitso, and Guillermo de la Vina – the CEO of Sigue Group.

The panel focused on the positive aspects of using Ripple’s ODL for businesses. The panel was a good sign that Ripple has actual use cases and isn’t simply a project that looks good on paper with no real world uses to it. 

Ripple Adds More Employees

Garlinghouse also announced that Ripple was committed to the future and increasing the number of employees to a total of 500. 

It’s always positive news when a company adds more employees. More employees also hints that Ripple might have big plans for 2021 with a potential Bank of America partnership.

CX Impact Award Winners

RippleNet closed out the day by awarding its CX Impact Award to partners that had the biggest impact on customers. 

The winners of the award were TPBank and Saudi British Bank (SABB). TPBank is actually the largest privately owned bank in Vietnam. The award was given to TPBank specifically because they use RippleNet to help facilitate monetary transfers between Vietnam and Japan. 

Did the price of Ripple (XRP) increase after Ripple Swell 2020?

Unfortunately, the price remained relatively flat after Ripple Swell 2020, which is unusual compared to previous years. 

However, this sideways price likely was not due to any problems with any announcements made at swell. In fact, all the announcements were positive and should have increased the price. 

The more likely explanation is that so many speculators purchased XRP with the expectation that the price would increase after Ripple Swell 2020 that any price increase was already factored into the price a few weeks prior to swell. 

This seems likely because the price actually decreased about a week after swell.

How does the future of Ripple (XRP) look after Ripple Swell 2020?

The future of Ripple looks great going into 2021. For one, the company is increasing the number of employees, which isn’t something that companies that are struggling normally do. 

Next, a new product – Line of Credit – was announced. That product solves a huge problem with financial tools and quick access to capital. 

Remember, progress with Ripple will come slowly. It’s a positive that they are slowly rolling out different products rather than trying to do too much at one time. 

Is a Bank of America partnership with Ripple possible?

Yes. As mentioned previously, it was neither confirmed nor denied by Garlinghouse. And we view that as a positive because partnerships such as that one are rarely announced in the negotiation phase. 

That said, many Ripple users are not too pleased with the possibility of a Ripple partnership with Bank of America. However, it does fit the general goal of Ripple, so we view that as a positive. 

Is a World Bank partnership with Ripple possible?

Yes. The fact that a representative from the World Bank spoke at Swell is a great indicator that a partnership between the World Bank and Ripple could emerge at some point in the future. 

That is how partnerships begin, so we would keep our eyes on any potential partnerships between the two.

Final Thoughts

That covers it for Ripple Swell 2020. In our opinion, this was one of the most optimistic Ripple Swells that has ever occurred.

A new product was launched, a representative from the World Bank spoke, Ripple appears to be gaining more popularity with banks across the world, and Ripple announced they will be hiring more employees in 2021. 

There was no bad news at this event. With that in mind, we do expect the price of Ripple to increase in 2021 as the project gains more popularity.