Ripple's (XRP) price jumped 140 percent this past week, and the altcoin sits near the $0.60 mark. This California-based company is a protocol and payment network that specializes in expediting transfers between financial institutions. The surge may be due to the fact that this cryptocurrency company chose from its onset in 2012 to work within existing regulatory systems to achieve quick and cheap transfers. The years spent laying the groundwork for such digital transfers appears to be paying off. By using xRapid, the tool designed by Ripple for blockchain money transfer, they have expedited the movement of cross-border transactions. By staying within the existing regulatory framework, Ripple landed crucial partnerships including Western Union, China-based payment services provider Lian-Lian, and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority. Another lift for Ripple came when test stats were released in May running xRapid payments between the US and Mexico. Real savings in cost between 40-70 percent was established over common fees for foreign exchange transfers. In under two minutes, the transfer was complete, blowing out of the water the usual three to five working days. Within the next few months, Ripple plans to launch xRapid commercially. Ripple is in partnership with Bittrex, Philippine Coins and Mexican Bitso to build an infrastructure within the digital asset community, enabling xRapid to move between the US dollar, Mexican peso, XRP, and the Philippine peso. Another reason XRP is picking up is that there are some who believe xRapid has already launched which is an interesting observation. On September 19 Ripple announced PNC, one of the largest U.S. banks, had joined RippleNet to process international payments and enable PNC business clients to receive instant payments against their invoices.
This news could be the impetus behind Ripple's market boost. Ripple holds only seven percent of the validator nodes the network operates, and XRP investors do not hold a shareholder-type position. With countries such as Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand classifying XRP as a commodity, XRP might potentially become recognized as a “non-security” by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has shown to be bullish for cryptocurrencies.