Ripple’s XRP has soared over the last 24 hours, adding some 10% to its market capitalization and sending the likes of bitcoin and ethereum higher, after Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse sparked speculation a highly-anticipated tie-up with rival Swift could be back on the table.
Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market has struggled over the last week as long-awaited institutional investment in the sector remains on the horizon.
Ripple’s XRP leap triggered a rebound for bitcoin, up 1% over the last 24 hours, and ethereum, up 3.5% over the same period. Bitcoin cash climbed back over the $2 billion market cap mark, adding 6%, according to prices from CoinMarketCap, which tracks most major cryptocurrencies.
Ripple has worked hard over the last year to integrate its XRP tradable token into the traditional financial sector.Getty
Garlinghouse, speaking on a panel at the Paris Fintech Forum said there were “ways [Ripple] could work with Swift.”
The Ripple CEO was speaking alongside Gottfried Leibbrandt, Swift’s out-going chief executive, who announced the international payments network was partnering with Ripple rival, blockchain company R3.
Swift’s network, which boasts some 11,000 financial institutions and moves $200 billion around the world every day, plans to link R3’s platform with its new payments standards framework Global Payments Innovation.
Garlinghouse, meanwhile, took the opportunity to publicly criticize Swift’s aging system.
“Decentralized systems, I think, over time are likely to win,” Garlinghouse said, it was first reported by CNBC. “I think that today that is not what Swift is.”
“Swift today is a one-way messaging framework, it isn’t a liquidity provider,” Garlinghouse added. “When we think about an internet of value, it’s a mixture of two-way messaging frameworks—moving to a real-time chatting protocol if you will—coupled with real-time liquidity.”
The price of Ripple’s XRP leapt sharply on Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s comments yesterday.CoinDesk
The ripple (XRP) price surged over a few months in 2018 as banks around the world announced they were experimenting with Ripple technology to speed up and save money on international payments.
XRP is however down more than 80% from its peak as most major cryptocurrencies readjust following 2017’s massive bull run. The ripple price surged to more than $3 in January last year, up from just $0.006 at the start of 2017.
The ripple price is now trading at a little over $0.30, according to the latest prices from CoinDesk’s tracker.
Earlier this month, Ripple, which owns 60% of XRP, was forced to defend itself against accusations it has misled the market over the value of its XRP token after Messari, a cryptocurrency data company, suggested ripple’s market cap could be far lower than thought.
Ripple’s most popular product, xCurrent, helps banks to settle international transactions by using blockchain to confirm transactions in real-time at each stage of a cross-border payment and last year the company teased xRapid, a similar system that uses the XRP tradable token directly.
The xRapid announcement in September sent the XRP price soaring as traders and investors bet that increased adoption from the financial services sector would mean greater demand for the token.