HSBC has teamed with Metaco, a Swiss digital asset custody firm that was recently acquired by Ripple. This is a major development in the world of digital assets and blockchain. The "XRP Army" of Ripple, a passionate XRP group that is often referred as a community of XRP enthusiasts, has taken note of this partnership. They see it as indicating broader adoption for Ripple’s blockchain technology and XRP token. This collaboration was not a one-off, as Metaco courted HSBC over a period of ten months before Ripple acquired them.
Ripple Labs has released one billion XRP from its escrow accounts. This strategic move, which was tracked and reported by crypto monitoring platform Whale Alert aims to boost XRP’s liquidity in the cryptocurrency market. Since early 2018, these regular releases, which take place on the 1st of every month, have become a recurring tradition. This release is a large amount of XRP but it's part of Ripple’s broader strategy for ensuring the stability and access to its native cryptocurrency.
HSBC Partners With Ripple’s Custody Firm Metaco in a Move That Excites the XRP Community
The news of HSBC’s collaboration with Metaco - the Swiss digital asset custody firm that Ripple acquired earlier this year - has sent waves of excitement throughout the cryptocurrency community, especially amongst the diehard enthusiasts of Ripple’s XRP, also known as the “XRP Army.” The partnership has sparked optimism that major financial organizations are about to adopt Ripple's XRP token and blockchain technology.
The "XRP Army," a group of ardent XRP advocates, sees HSBC's choice to work with Metaco, as a sign that XRPL and the XRP Ledger are gaining traction in the traditional banking industry. The enthusiasm should, however, be balanced with some reality. Adoption is more complicated than it seems.
Adrien Treccani is the CEO of Metaco. He stressed that the partnership between Metaco & HSBC didn't happen overnight. Metaco was in talks with the bank over 18 months prior to the Ripple acquisition. This shows the careful planning and consideration that goes into forming such partnerships within the financial sector.
Treccani admits that there may not be a direct link between Ripple’s acquisition of Metaco, and HSBC’s decision. However, there is a indirect connection. The success of Ripple, as a business, ultimately contributes towards the broader adoption XRPL protocol as a blockchain. This reinforces the value of XRP token.
Ripple is actively courting banks, with an emphasis on streamlining processes like cross-border payment. XRPL is a leading example of a blockchain which combines both public and private uses cases, while also offering scalability benefits over its competitors such as Ethereum. It supports tokenized assets natively, reducing the reliance on smart contract, and facilitates trading on-chain with other blockchain-based platforms and automated market-makers (AMMs).
Metaco's collaboration with Ripple provides a comprehensive solution that includes both infrastructure and value-added service. The integrated approach allows banks to receive digital asset custody, tokenization capability, payment services and liquidity management all from one vendor.
The partnership between Metaco & Ripple is not without its challenges. Rumors emerged following the acquisition that Metaco's clients were looking at alternative solutions because of concerns about Ripple’s ongoing legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Treccani clarified some of the speculation, and that post-acquisition discussions were standard business practice. Most contracts with banks contain provisions for ownership changes.
Treccani said, "Yes, such discussions have taken place, and we've spent the last few months clarifying with banks the situation. I believe we've been successful. You will see more Tier One Bank Partnerships that we are soon going to announce in Europe, America, APAC and Africa."
HSBC, like many other major financial institutions is recognizing that tokenization, or the process of representing assets in the real world on blockchains, has great potential. It also recognizes the importance of robust technology for digital asset custody to facilitate this transition.
Treccani is driven by his dedication to cryptocurrency, and the principles that it represents. He will continue to serve banks as their needs change. He believes that many banks will eventually want to offer cryptocurrency-related services, and by building tokenization capabilities now, they will be well-prepared to embrace the world of cryptocurrency when the time comes.
Ripple releases one billion XRP as the Ripple-SEC case hints at resolution
Whale Alert, a popular crypto tracking platform reported that Ripple Labs in San Francisco, a fintech giant, had recently released one billion XRP through escrow. This move highlights Ripple’s commitment to support XRP’s liquidity in exchanges and the broader crypto market.
The crypto tracking platform identified three major transfers that each carried a significant amount of XRP. The transfers totaled one billion Ripple tokens, with 500,000,000, 300,000,000, and 200,000,000 of XRP. This is equivalent to $601.4 million in fiat currency. These withdrawals are regular and have occurred consistently since early 2018. They always occur on the first of every new month.
Ripple releases these XRP to the market as part of its strategy. Ripple Labs typically moves approximately 800,000,000 XRP back into escrow in the days that follow these withdrawals. This process is repeated every 30 days. These routine XRP releases don't seem to have a major impact on the XRP value.
Whale Alert, in addition to Ripple’s XRP movement, also detected a withdrawal from Binance of 27,000,000XRP, which is equivalent to $16,413,770USD. This purchase may seem unusual at first, and could be a violation of the trading maxim "buy low, sale high." On closer inspection, it was discovered that the wallet of the sender also belonged to Binance, which indicated this was an intra-exchange transfer.
Recent developments around Ripple sparked speculation in the XRP Community regarding the ongoing legal fight with the SEC. Since its inception in December 2020, this case has been a major fixture in the crypto-world.
The SEC has announced a closed meeting to be held in the near future, presumably for the purpose of discussing the Ripple lawsuit. This announcement has fueled optimism among the XRP community. Ripple won two important victories in court against the regulatory agency earlier this year.
In July, Federal judge Torres ruled XRP transfers from Ripple on the secondary market were not security sales. The price of XRP soared after this decision, reaching a high local value of $0.71. The price then began to decline.
In the fall, Ripple won a second victory when the SEC dropped all charges against Brad Garlinghouse (Ripple's CEO) and Chris Larsen (the company's cofounder). These developments have given XRP fans hope that a solution to the long-running Ripple/SEC case is on the horizon.
Ripple releases XRP strategically to maintain the currency's liquidity and stability.
Price Overview
Chart for the XRP/USDT pair (Source: TradingView).
After a 0.20% gain over the last 24 hours, XRP is approaching the major resistance at $0.6235. The remittance coin was trading at $0.6137 as of press time. If the cryptocurrency can break through the barrier within the next 24 hour, it may continue to climb to $0.6800. A rejection of the $0.6235 barrier could cause XRP to fall back to $0.5730.
