Ripple Rolls Out $300M RippleNet Accelerator Program to Grow Volume and XRP Utility
Kelly Johnson
Image: Shutterstock
Starting today, Ripple will offer a unique reward for financial institutions that are the first in their markets to process and promote commercial payments on RippleNet. The reward will come in the form of rebates through the new RippleNet Accelerator Program.
Building on growing network effects, the RippleNet Accelerator Program is funded by $300 million of XRP from Ripple's XRP holdings. The program consists of a Volume Rebate and an Adoption Marketing Incentive.
The Volume Rebate provides license and integration-fee rebates to RippleNet members once they've reached integration and volume milestones by certain deadlines. Depending on the volume processed, these rebates can cover anywhere between 50 to 300 percent of the integration fees and first year's license fees.
This rebate — available in XRP or USD — is designed to accelerate adoption and usage of Ripple solutions. Selling restrictions will apply to customers that elect to receive their rebate in XRP to support healthy XRP markets.
Adoption Marketing Incentive
The Adoption Marketing Incentive will match eligible customers' marketing spend when they promote Ripple-powered products and services to their end-customers. Ripple will support participating customers' marketing efforts with tailored marketing content, messaging frameworks and tools, further reducing their marketing costs.
This incentive is available on a limited, first-come, first-served basis to financial institutions globally and can be earned through XRP or USD. Selling restrictions will apply to customers that elect to receive their rebate in XRP to support healthy XRP markets.
Monica Long, VP of Marketing at Ripple, said: "We're borrowing a page from the likes of PayPal (with their early days adoption and referral bonuses), implementing incentives to accelerate network effects on RippleNet. Since we're offering the incentives in XRP, we anticipate seeing an added benefit of building an easy on-ramp for institutions to use XRP in their payment flows to lower liquidity cost in the future. Early reception of these XRP incentives in a test phase has been very positive."
Built for enterprise use, XRP offers banks and payment providers a first-ever on-demand liquidity option for cross-border payments. It is the fastest, most scalable digital asset enabling real-time global payments. XRP — currently the third-largest digital asset by market capitalization — can eliminate the need for multiple pre-funded nostro accounts, expand a financial institution's reach into new markets, lower FX costs, and improve settlement speed to just a few seconds.
If you're a financial institution and would like to participate in the RippleNet Accelerator Program, please contact us at ripple.com/contact.
For more information about XRP, please visit ripple.com/xrp and stay tuned for the Q3 2017 XRP Markets Report.
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"It's basically like a Bitcoin but for like banks or something right?"
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The above statement is generally the extent of how much many cryptocurrency investors know about Ripple. For having the third highest market cap, many people still know surprisingly little about Ripple XRP or the potentially industry-shaking business that is Ripple.
If you find yourself in this category, don't fret. You're not alone, nor is understanding what Ripple does too far out of reach.
When it comes to exciting cryptocurrencies, the average investor is usually drawn to volatility. A sudden atmospheric surge in price for a random altcoin usually makes headlines, regardless of how viable an investment target that coin is.
Whereas some coins such as Monero and NEO multiplied in price, Ripple stayed relatively quiet. It still held onto being in the top 5 most popular coins, but it was just not exciting to watch. This led a lot of people to forget, or otherwise neglect to understand, what Ripple is trying to accomplish.
The opportunity Ripple is trying to seize is based on the inefficiency of the current global payment industry. The world sends roughly $155 trillion across borders, and this $155,000,000,000,000 (that's a lot of zeros) is chipped away at with high fees and lengthy processing times. If you've seen a chunk of your payment from an international client go missing to fees, multiply that to an almost incomprehensible amount of money.
October Growth
The recent and unexpected spike in price signaled a bull-run in a time where altcoins were generally down double-digit percentages.
The reason XRP saw some growth in October is largely due to the belief that Ripple is going to make a big announcement at their upcoming conference in Toronto called "Swell". Traders are buying into XRP with the hope that the price will continue to grow after the conference. If anything, this should be a red flag. Anticipation has already been built into the current price, and if the conference is underwhelming, we'll likely see a drop in price.
Other than the conference, Ripple has been expanding into Asia by opening offices in India and Singapore. Additionally, Ripple announced that RippleNet (their enterprise blockchain network) added its 100th member.
Is Ripple a Good Investment Target?
And so we arrive at the point that any keen investor has been asking themselves since the beginning of the article.
It's important to emphasize that I am only providing you with information to help your decision and not financial advice.
"First a clarification on the question: Ripple is a private, cash flow positive company and we don't have any plans to raise additional capital
As a general rule I try not to give investment advice, but I'm happy to give a summary of what drives Ripple's and XRP's value. Ripple is focused on enabling a global network of financial institutions to use our software to create what we call the the Internet of Value. Our goal is to lower the marginal cost of international payments to the point where money can move as easily as information does today.
As the network grows and adoption of Ripple's products increases, the value of Ripple should grow as well.
As this occurs, the demand for XRP will increase and markets will reflect that."
That being said, while Ripple is attempting to tackle an enormous problem and is perhaps the best-suited company to do so, there are some major drawbacks (in my humble opinion) investing in it for the long-term.
The Cons
Ripple (XRP) is not decentralized. Ripple, the holding company, owns about 61% or $16 billion worth of all the XRP. This means that they can release their XRP to have some control on prices. Since they have an enormous holding supply, this would only make the price go down unless they choose to buy XRP tokens back, which they haven't shown any intentions to do.
Ripple is all about low payment fees. That's their edge over the current global payment system. It's not in their best interest for XRP tokens to be worth a lot since that would increase the cost per transaction. Bad news if you're looking for massive gains.
There are 38,600,451,446 XRP in circulation, with a market cap of $9,983,659,362. There is also currently a maximum supply set of 100,000,000,000 XRP. The sheer supply curbs the growth potential. We're likely not going to see a single XRP token follow a similar growth pattern of a NEO token (currently trading at $29.51).
The Pros:
Ripple is one of the few companies in the cryptocurrency world that is making money and is working with actual clients. It's pretty much an anomaly in a market full of tokens with only a whitepaper to their name.
The global payments industry is worth trillions.
The reason many big banks will have a lot of difficulty making their own Ripple spin-off is because they're inherently self-serving and centralized. For example, Banko Alex has no incentive to adopt the primary usage of a Banko Moskov coin. These banks are stuck in a conundrum in having to create a decentralized coin while still maintaining control. Ripple serves as an objective third party intermediary that has only one primary objective: to facilitate global payments and earn revenue in doing so.
Final Thoughts
For me, Ripple has always been an interesting coin to watch. My interest is largely fueled by a frustration with the archaic global payments industry, and that aligns me with Ripple's opportunity.
A few questions you should be able to answer prior to investing in any cryptocurrency include:
What problems are they solving?
Are they building something useful?
What is their industry like (size, competitors, etc)?
Do they have a competitive edge?
What's their founding team's experience?
How many tokens are released, or plan to release in the future?
If you're interested in Ripple, I highly recommend following their three-day conference Swell. Two of their keynote speakers include Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, and Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web. There's a reason so many people are awaiting the conference with anticipation, and it's largely to hear what these two speakers think about the current state of Ripple and the blockchain world.
I also recommend checking out how Brad Garlinghouse (CEO of Ripple) answered a variety of questions pertaining to Ripple as a company and its growth potential. The full series can be found here.
As far as investing, that decision is up to you. Either way, Ripple will be an interesting story to follow.
Important: Never invest money you can't afford to lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here.
A listed Bradford-based lender has been fined by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for sending almost 1.5 million spam messages to promote its credit cards.
Vanquis Bank Ltd, which is part of the beleaguered Provident Group, sent 870,849 spam text messages and 620,000 spam emails to promote its credit cards.
Both the emails and texts broke the law because the recipients had not consented to being sent such messages and Vanquis Bank has now been fined £75,000 by the ICO.
Provident Personal Credit Ltd was fined earlier this year after it sent 999,057 unsolicited text messages promoting its Satsuma brand.
The business has also experienced difficulties after a new operating model was introduced in July 2017 causing performance to drop.
Vanquis Bank obtained the marketing lists used to send the messages from other organisations and relied on indirect consent rather than checking itself that the correct level of consent had been obtained.
ICO head of enforcement Steve Eckersley said: "There are rules in place to protect people from the irritation, and in some cases anxiety and distress, spam texts and emails cause.
"People need to be properly informed about what they are consenting to.
"Telling them their details could be passed to 'similar organisations' or 'selected third parties' cannot be relied upon as specific consent."
He added: "People were so exasperated by these messages that they complained to us. That sparked two ICO investigations and enabled us to take action and hold the firms behind this nuisance to account.
"These firms should have taken responsibility for ensuring they had obtained clear and specific consent for the sending of the messages. They didn't and that is unacceptable."
"I would encourage anyone troubled by a spam email or text to report it via the ICO's website."
Anonymity: It's one of the draws of cryptocurrency, and it's also one of the dangers.
That's one lesson that AirFox, the latest company in Boston to raise money through an initial coin offering, has learned over the past month. In the past year, startups have increasingly turned to initial coin offerings (ICO) to raise money fast.
ICOs are essentially a form of crowdfunding in which a company distributes virtual tokens that users can buy and sell anonymously using blockchain, a digital ledger stored on a decentralized network of computers.
This past summer, ICOs brought in $1.2 billion, surpassing the amount of money early-stage venture capital raised in the same timeframe, according to a two-month study by Goldman Sachs and CB Insights.
But ICOs are complicated. AirFox delayed the release of its AirToken three times and removed nearly 5,000 contributors from its platform due to anti-money laundering guidance. Its cryptocurrency release is now slated for Oct. 10.
"The days of randomly taking cryptocurrencies from anyone for an ICO are over," the company said in a recent Medium post. "In order to comply with the law in a more regulated crypto and token sale landscape, ICOs will now have to register and regulate token buyers."
AirFox, founded last year by two ex-Googlers, is an adtech venture based out of the Harvard Launch Lab. It has created an internet browser that pays users a new cryptocurrency—AirTokens—for surfing the web, watching ads or filling out surveys. These Ethereum-based tokens can be redeemed for mobile data, transferred between users or used to apply for a microloan. (The company is targeting emerging markets such as Brazil and Mexico.)
To fundraise, AirFox took a nontraditional route — after a seed round, it bypassed the idea of asking venture capitalists for more money and went straight for an ICO, with a goal of $15 million. Two presales collectively brought in $35 million from about 7,000 contributors ahead of the ICO.
"On the fundraising side, we feel very confident," Victor Santos, AirFox's CEO and co-founder, said at the time. "We had a lot of demand."
But then the bad news came. Nearly 5,000 contributors failed to pass AirFox's compliance process. When the company removed these contributors, including those in countries such as China and Afghanistan, its total dropped below the $15 million mark. It was $1.2 million short.
Now, the company seems to have recovered. It raised a total of $15 million after extending its sale period and delaying the release of its tokens until Oct. 10, according to a recent Medium post. But AirFox's rocky start points to a larger issue in the crypto industry: a lack of clear regulations.
A Gray Area For Regulators
Blockchain technology is known for the anonymity it gives users, who are identified only by the number assigned to them. This anonymity makes cryptocurrency a valuable tool for criminals. And regulators are taking note.
FinCEN, a bureau within the U.S. Treasury Department, enforces a set of rules to prevent money laundering. These rules require financial institutions to record transactions, know who their customers are, and report suspicious activity to law enforcement.
It's not exactly clear how these rules apply to companies selling their own virtual currency, especially since FinCEN seemed to carve out an exemption for these companies in 2014.
Nonetheless, the agency has come after a couple of companies for violating anti-money laundering rules. Most recently, in July, it fined BTC-e, a major virtual currency exchange, $110 million for facilitating transactions linked to ransomware, identity theft, and drug trafficking, among other crimes.
In the wake of BTC-e's shutdown, companies have been voluntarily taking steps to comply with anti-money laundering rules. That's why AirFox screened contributors before allowing them to participate. "Right now, everything is 'gray' in the U.S.," said Brigid Gorham, a spokesperson for AirFox, in an email. "AirFox is trying to comply and self-regulate as much as possible."
'There's No Cut And Dry Test' For Cryptocurrencies
FinCEN isn't the only regulator keeping an eye on cryptocurrency. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also scrutinized the fast-growing industry. But it, too, lacks clear guidelines.
"We're just tying some loose ends on the legal and compliance side just to be extra compliant," AirFox's Santos said last month. "This is such a crazy regulatory landscape right now."
What makes a token a security isn't all that clear.
"There's no cut and dry test that says this thing definitively is or is not a security," said Patrick Murck, a fintech attorney at Cooley LLP's Boston office who has worked in the digital currency space for eight years.
That hasn't stopped the SEC, which reviews tokens on a case-by-case basis. In July, the agency issued a warning that some tokens could be considered securities and subject to securities laws. In August, it suspended the trading activities of four companies that held ICOs.
The SEC declined to comment specifically on the AirFox case and its delays, but previously put out this statement: "Whether a particular investment transaction involves the offer or sale of a security – regardless of the terminology or technology used – will depend on the facts and circumstances, including the economic realities of the transaction."
In Santos's mind, the AirToken is not a security because it's a "utility token" used to buy airtime and therefore should not be regulated as a security. But he acknowledged that the cryptocurrency space lacks clear guidelines. "We're doing everything we can to make sure we're compliant," he said. "We are fairly secure that we're a utility token, but no one knows for certain."
Despite the lack of clear regulations, there's still a frenzy of startups turning to initial coin offerings in place of venture funding. Last month, 67 companies completed their ICOs, according to ICO database Tokendata.io.
And Boston is no exception to this funding fad. Engima, a company founded by MIT alums, recently raised $45 million in an initial coin offering. And Santos said he is advising two Boston-based companies planning to ICO "fairly soon," though he declined to give names.
AirFox points to a larger trend--cryptocurrency is changing the way startups raise money. It's a phenomenon that venture capitalist Jeff Bussgang discussed in a recent Medium post: "Once the regulatory and systems infrastructure for ICOs is in place and the friction is reduced, it will become a more common means of raising growth financing."
And Santos agrees. "You're going to start seeing a lot more of these companies in Boston that have some traction, have a product and are looking to do this as a fundraising mechanism," he said.
Ever adventurous, Joy decided the only way to really get an idea of what Bitcoin was about, was to buy some. So she bought a bit.
At $4,000-plus per coin, she only bought a little bit of a Bitcoin. She bought $75 worth, which was a little less than 2 percent. With that little bit she bought a sweater from Overstock.com. It was $19.74. That left $54 worth of Bitcoin. She can go wild later.
So what is this all about? James Dimon, head of J.P. Morgan and Co., the largest bank in the U.S., says "It's a fraud, a scam." Well, Mr. Dimon is always worth listening to, but in this situation, he may be talking his book (his own interests), as they say in the investment biz. But the sweater is real and so was the transaction, so that wasn't a scam. How did we get there?
The first question might be where would you buy a Bitcoin? The other first question is what is it? There are several other first questions, which we will try to get to in the order in which they were perceived. So the first one is she bought her Bitcoin at Coinbase.com. (There are no actual coins involved. Though we sometimes see pictures of coins with a big "B" stamped on the surface, these are artists' renderings of what such a coin might look like if it actually existed.)
Another first question is: If it doesn't really exist, what is it? To which we might add - and so we will - "what does this have to do with a column on computers and high tech?" Well ... computers create the coins. They do this by solving problems involving blockchain transactions, and solving them first. Does this seem to be getting complicated? That's only an appearance, like everything else involving money.
The person who solves a problem first gets some coins, 12.5 these days. Who gives them the coins? The web. That is, by an interlocking web of computers that acknowledges that someone has solved the problem first. Boom. A lot of computing power is involved.
Using the program that initially established Bitcoins - which are frequently called a cryptocurrency, meaning they're encrypted currency - a limit of 21 million Bitcoins can be produced. That limit is expected to be reached in 2040, only 23 years from now. Looked at through the lens of classical economics, that would mean the price has to go up. But of course only if the currency is accepted. This seems to be happening: The coins are currently valued at more than $4000 apiece, up from around $600 this time last year.
So who accepts these coins as currency? So far: Whole Foods, Subway, Expedia (travel), New Egg (electronics discounter), Microsoft, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Airlines, DISH network, Intuit, Etsy, Steam (computer games), Bloomberg.com, etc. In all, nearly one hundred companies currently accept Bitcoins as payments. The number keeps growing.
Coinbase.com seems to be the most common source for buying and selling Bitcoins, though there are many others. The transaction fee is commonly about 4 percent. This may seem high but is only slightly more than the fees charged by credit card companies.
In a real life case, from a TED talk on the topic, a housekeeper in Toronto regularly sends money through Bitcoin to her mother in the Philippines. Before using the digital method, she paid a 10 percent fee, and her mother waited 47 days to get the money. With Bitcoin, the money was transferred in minutes, and the fee was 2 percent. An app on her phone called Abra lets her choose the service with the highest rating. She used to spend five hours a week just doing the paperwork for transferring money but now does it in minutes.
Bitcoin transactions of course are outside government control and ignore national boundaries. Many countries have currency controls, limiting how much money can be taken out at any one time; the limits often being quite small. In the book "The Age of Cryptocurrency," by two veteran Wall Street Journal reporters, one of the authors describes how he could not have sold his condo in Buenos Aires without ceding most of the profit to the government. He was advised by a friend to use Bitcoin instead. So he went to an unmarked building, nervously agreed to the transaction, and went away without even a paper receipt. When he got home to the U.S., a couple hundred thousand dollars had been transferred to his bank account.
Underlying Bitcoin is the so-called "blockchain technology." Companies like Wells Fargo, Cisco Systems, IBM, Intel, and JPMorgan Chase have invested in it through the "Hyperledger" project. Barclays, Britain's largest bank, is already using it. To Bob, who's memory goes back a long way in technology, blockchain seems very similar to the Unix operating system developed for mainframe computers in the early days. In Unix, everything is a file, just as in blockchain everything is a block. It worked well and was hard to crack. We still see its remnants every day in the "dot" used in Internet addresses. The dot is an old Unix command to look through the Internet's files and find the corresponding "block."
This is all very sci-fi. What is a national currency worth, many have asked? Only what people think it is worth, is the answer that often comes back.
"How the Blockchain is Changing Money and Business." Google those words for a fascinating TED talk by Don Tapscott, a Harvard professor. He explains why Bitcoin will bring about more social equality than anything we've tried yet. For example, in developing countries where people can't sell their land because they have no title to it, blockchain could make that happen.
"How Does Bitcoin Work and Who Actually Pays for the Mining?" Google that phrase to find an explanation on Quora that tells all. It has an error, stating that the number of coins will top out in 2140; it should say 2040.
"19 Industries the Blockchain will Disrupt." Search on those words to find a YouTube video that explains how the technology underlying Bitcoin is changing business everywhere.
Bitcoinhalf.com is about the rewards of mining. The reward was chopped in half in 2016, and is programmed to halve again. This site estimates when that will happen and gives other statistics.
Every Fall sweater coats come out in full force so this year I decided to take the leap and try one. I used to stay away from them because they can be “unflattering” but this Lane Bryant coat completely changed my mind.  I initially saw this one during their Fall preview back in the Summer and couldn’t wait til it became available. It’s so versatile and can be dressed up or down. So if you are in the market for a statement sweater this Fall, don’t look any further!
Have a wonderful day!
Sweater coat: c/o Lane Bryant (here) Turtleneck: c/o Lane Bryant (here) Skirt: ASOS Curve (here) Shoes: Zara (here) Bag: Mansur Gavriel (sold out)
- Repost by weffashion.blogspot.com - From::http://grownandcurvywoman.com/2015/10/19/sweater-coat-season/
HTML email (weffashion.blogspot.com)Getting your make-up done is always such a treat, so why do most of us wait until we're a bridesmaid or a bride to actually get it done? It is high time we made the splurge so here's how we can justify it to ourselves!
Make Up Artist Keara Kelly who did a fab job on my make up in June
1. Same Price as a Blow-Dry
While prices vary in make up application, it usually costs the same price as a blow - dry so next time you have an outing, spend your blow dry money on gett ing your make-up done instead. See? Technically not spending any extra money.
Quick Trick make up demo from Charlotte Tilbury @ Brown Thomas Dublin
2. Redeem that money on product!
If you get your make up done at a cosmetic counter you can redeem the cost of your make up application on products which you would need to buy anyway so your practically SAVING money. Bear in mind that you will need to book a Saturday appointment in MAC at least three months in advance if not more. C harlotte Tilbury is better for last minute demos.
Yesterday's wedding make - up by Make Up Artist Gill Donovan @10am!
3. A smokey eye is an accessory
I went to a wedding yesterday and wore a dress I've worn at least ten times before, so was easily able to justify getting my make up done. Technically a smokey eye is an accessory, so well worth the spend.
Still going strong at 5pm!
4. Lasts all day - AND NIGHT!
Gill Donovan did my make - up at 10am yesterday morning and at 3am it was still perfect. Safe to say if I had done my own face I would have been a state at that hour!
"I'm actually Stunning" Leonie Gilsenan 2015 (make-up by Keara Kelly!)
5. Immediate confidence boost
Save money on life coaching by getting an immediate confidence boost by getting your make-up done. Myself and my friend Leonie felt invincible when we got our make up done for my 30th. See you later flaws - we are out for the night!
K x
- Repost by weffashion.blogspot.com - From::http://www.alittlebitplus.com/2015/10/5-ways-to-justify-getting-your-make-up.html