Ripple execs on XRP; here’s why 2021 is already off to a roaring start

Lately, any news about Ripple pertains to the XRP lawsuit that the SEC filed against the firm in December 2020. However, the firm’s quarterly report projects an optimistic picture for the digital asset, as XRP sales more than doubled from the previous quarter. The asset more than regained the losses it had sustained when the lawsuit news broke out; XRP was trading at $1.59 at press time.

The San Fransico-based fintech firm recently came out with its very first Ripple Drop for 2021. Two of their senior executives provided updates about RippleNet as well as RippleX.

In the latest Ripple Drop, we explore the power of RippleNet to transform businesses, how @RippleXDev is contributing to the XRPL community and the latest on U.S. crypto regulations. https://t.co/9Qz6hYAO1h pic.twitter.com/EtZgMokMyA

— Ripple (@Ripple) May 7, 2021

According to the General Manager of RippleNet Asheesh Birla,

“In 2020 alone, over three million transactions crossed the network, with Southeast Asia leading the charge. Furthermore, 2021 is already off to a roaring start, particularly across the Middle East and Latin America.”

Source: Ripple

Birla attributed this growth to the “digital transformation due to the pandemic”. According to the insights provided by Ripple in quarterly reports, total XRP sales had jumped from $76 million in Q4 last year to almost $150 million in Q1 2021. This incline was directly attributed to the growing demand for RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity or ODL service. Birla also reiterated that ODL service aided many customers to navigate the COVID cash crunch.

Furthermore, Birla added:

“The digital acceleration brought on by COVID is barely going to proceed in a post-COVID world, and RippleNet goes to be the expertise that can assist you to increase even additional.”

RippleX General Manager Monica Long provided an update on RippleX.

With regard to this year, she stated:

“The focus for 2021 is on contributing, with the broader XRPL developer community, to a fantastic building experience for developers, and on supporting developers with new programs, demonstrating real-world use cases for XRPL, and introducing key infrastructure elements that promote liquidity and help developer ideas come to life.”

She even commented on her stance towards NFTs and CBDCs.

Talking about the former, she claimed:

“NFTs are obviously a very big deal in crypto, and I think there is a lot of opportunities for developers to sink their teeth into NFT use cases on XRPL.”

On CBDCs, she added:

“[CBDCs] will be a major acceleration for the adoption of Ripple’s technology. We are going to be there. We are meeting and currently discussing strategy with various central banks around the world.”

A similar opinion was shared by Asheesh Birla in a previous interview about CBDCs.