By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 18th, 2024
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expects to see more ‘consolidation’ in 2020 after Visa acquired fintech startup Plaid for $5.3 billion. Will it affect the XRP price?
XRP gave the crypto community an unexpected gift when it rose by 10 percent on Tuesday. The third biggest cryptocurrency has been sluggish in its movement, barely keeping up with other top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). But in what resembled a rush of adrenaline, XRP astonished crypto investors when it regained strength to take back the $0.244 level. This event is so remarkable because this is the first show of strength XRP has managed to achieve since November ending of 2019.
Now that XRP has bounced back, the questions everyone is asking include, for how long will its momentum continue and will it at least touch $0.30 before losing steam? Well, analysts believe that XRP has the potential to hit the $0.30 mark, which will be made easier to attain if it can break above the downtrend resistance.
Signs of Love between the Crypto and Fintech Industries?
The year 2020 has not even gone far and there is already a romance brewing between the crypto and fintech industries. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is persuaded that this is just the beginning for the two industries and that more consolidation is bound to happen as the year progresses.
Not surprising to see this kind of consolidation, and expect this will set the stage for more to come in 2020 – in fintech, crypto and beyond. https://t.co/SMVNxZd1br
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 14, 2020
Basing his conviction on the acquisition of Plaid, a payment startup, by Visa for the sum of $5.3 billion, Garlinghouse opined that 2020 will witness more fintech and crypto marriages. These talks by Garlinghouse has, however, made the Ripple and XRP community curious whether the CEO is hinting at some big projects the Ripple company plans to embark on.
Ripple, not long ago, finally joined the $10 billion club after completing its own $200 million Series C funding round. This funding is expected to help Ripple expand its ecosystem.
Visa Purchases a Fintech Company
One of the biggest payment solution companies in the world, Visa, recently officially announced its acquisition of fintech startup Plaid for $5.3 billion, an amount that supersedes its value of $2.65 billion. Visa’s relationship with Plaid dates back to the startup’s $250 million funding round, in which Visa and Mastercard made investments in the company.
The CEO of Visa, AI Kelly, explained that the purchase of Plaid is a strategic move to get Visa acquainted with the latest technology in the financial industry. The CEO went on to state that the company is ready to go beyond cards and with the takeover of the fintech company, Visa has been presented with a great opportunity to execute its vision.
Though it is too early to say whether 2020 will be a successful year for the fintech market, we can say that it will be definitely a very interesting one to observe. So, let’s wait and see what will be happening and whether it will have any influence on some particular companies, technologies and crypto projects.