Ripple’s XRP Can Now be Spent in More than 40M Locations Across 180 Countries

XRP enthusiasts can now store the digital asset as well as spend it using Spend Visa Debit Card in 180 countries.

Spend, a company that connects billions of users to financial services tools from traditional legal tender to digital currencies, has recently announced services available for Litecoin and DASH. Now they have come up with a new update: its Spend App is enabling crypto enthusiasts to pay with XRP via Spend Wallet at more than 40 million locations spread out in 180 countries.

#XRP is now available on the #SpendApp. Buy/Sell $XRP with your bank account. Exchange XRP with all supported assets. Spend XRP at 40+ million locations with the Spend Wallet by instantly converting to fiat on the #Spend Visa Card!@Ripple @bgarlinghouse @chrislarsensf @JoelKatz pic.twitter.com/bv3LKtErhM

— Spend.com (@SpendCard) February 16, 2019

To make this service available, Spend partnered with Visa. As a result, XRP enthusiasts can now store, spend, and send more than 16 cryptocurrencies using Spend Visa Debit Card. As the company has promised, fees are extremely low and before expenditure, XRP is converted to fiat on the fly.

When using the card, it converts on the fly. All you have to do is activate the asset and swipe! The Spend Authorization Engine converts to local fiat currency prior to loading on the network. 👍

— Spend.com (@SpendCard) February 16, 2019

It is notable that only iOS users can access the App by downloading it from the Apple Store. Earlier, the company removed its Android App from Google Play to reach high performance. Spend said:

“We temporarily removed the Spend App from the Google Play Store in order to make necessary updates and adjustments. Please stay tuned to our page here for updates on when we release it again! Thanks for your patience!”

To protect and support consumers, Spend adheres to KYC compliance rules, and uses AES encryption with PCI DSS Level 1 Certification. Moreover, consumers can get loans on the Spend app. The user’s credit rating is evaluated, then the interest rate on the loan is determined, which usually makes up around 11%. However, the loan feature is only available in certain regions at the moment.

Ripple’s Partnership with BlockQuake on the Way

Ripple pushes it hard to expand its partner network further, and it’s worth noting, that it does it successfully. Recently, eToro CEO revealed he is “very interested” in having a partnership with Ripple. Binance CEO is interested in collaboration with xRapid, Ripple’s XRP-powered product.

Another company that predicts success from the partnership with Ripple is BlockQuake, a FinTech company that aims to be the NASDAQ / NYSE of cryptocurrency/digital asset exchanges. Recently, BlockQuake revealed they had a meeting with Ripple’s NYC team, that’s why a potential partnership could be coming in near future.

The BlockQuake team had a great meeting today with ripplexrpofficial XRP NYC team! Future partnerships are in the works.
#ripple #xrp #cryptocurrency… https://t.co/rAKkE56Z6K

— BlockQuake (@BlockQuake) January 18, 2019

BlockQuake aims to be the industry standard amongst exchanges for global compliance and transparency. Their goal is “to make the BlockQuake trading platform the go-to digital asset exchange for traders, retail and institutional alike”. The BlockQuake’s team believes that collaboration with Ripple may help in achieving this goal.

Does JPM Coin Pose a Threat To XRP?

XRP seems to be accelerating its mass adoption, however, its prosperity is clouded by competitors, and one of the major rivals is newly created JPM Coin. Launched by multinational banking and financial services company JP Morgan, JPM Coin is a digital token is issued on Quorum Blockchain and enables the instantaneous transfer of payments between institutional accounts. Launching the new currency, JP Morgan became the first U.S. bank to create and successfully test a digital coin representing a fiat currency, US dollar.

The crypto community is wondering which impact the newly-created currency may have on other coins. As currency has numerous benefits, some believe that JPM Coin poses a serious threat to Ripple.

Travis Kling, the founder of Los Angeles-based crypto hedge fund Ikgai Asset Management, said:

“JPM’s project is much more evolutionary than revolutionary — it is utilizing a private, permissioned blockchain technology called Quorum, which is much closer to a Google Sheet than a Bitcoin. The project is clearly competing directly with Ripple Labs and their centralized cryptocurrency XRP.”

However, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse is not afraid of the consequences that JPM Coin may have. He has dismissed the impact of the coin’s launch, saying:

“As predicted, banks are changing their tune on crypto. But this JPM project misses the point- introducing a closed network today is like launching AOL after Netscape’s IPO. 2 years later, and bank coins still aren’t the answer.”

It takes time to see whether JPM Coin will have any impact on the crypto market and if yes, which influence this will be. It is obvious that any currency strives to dominance, but each of the coins is still far from Bitcoin.

*To learn more about XRP coin, Ripple company, and their innovative solutions, please check out our awesome guide.