XRP or XLM ?

[gesdan]

right now XLM reached the highest at $0.2++ its a good news for the XLM holder, it increased from last night 100% changes, i dont know why the price of XLM is increased are XLM developer have a project or event? so the price is increasing like a rocket?

[1714759183]

1714759183

[1714759183]

1714759183

[Darthswan]

Right now XLM of course. The perspective is cosmic. Here is a clipping from one article: "Stellar also features a built-in currency exchange system that allows people to buy and sell currencies. It works like a distributed exchange. "

"Stellar is significantly cheaper and faster than other protocols, including Ethereum (5 seconds median settlement time on Stellar vs 3.5 min on Ethereum for execution and secure confirmations.) It costs 1 cent to make 100,000 transactions on Stellar."

and there are a lot of pluses.

[MemberBerries]

Right now XLM of course. The perspective is cosmic. Here is a clipping from one article: "Stellar also features a built-in currency exchange system that allows people to buy and sell currencies. It works like a distributed exchange. "

"Stellar is significantly cheaper and faster than other protocols, including Ethereum (5 seconds median settlement time on Stellar vs 3.5 min on Ethereum for execution and secure confirmations.) It costs 1 cent to make 100,000 transactions on Stellar."

and there are a lot of pluses.

Why should Stellar have any value when the system(blockchain) works without it? )

[Darthswan]

Right now XLM of course. The perspective is cosmic. Here is a clipping from one article: "Stellar also features a built-in currency exchange system that allows people to buy and sell currencies. It works like a distributed exchange. "

"Stellar is significantly cheaper and faster than other protocols, including Ethereum (5 seconds median settlement time on Stellar vs 3.5 min on Ethereum for execution and secure confirmations.) It costs 1 cent to make 100,000 transactions on Stellar."

and there are a lot of pluses.

Why should Stellar have any value when the system works without it? )

what system do you mean?

[stefy77]

I think they're both cheats. Ripple has behind the banks and there are lots of coins, Stellar/Lumens seem made especially for speculators.

[bizzeff9]

I think they're both cheats. Ripple has behind the banks and there are lots of coins, Stellar/Lumens seem made especially for speculators.

whatever you say about xrp and xlm, i will hold them till it worth $10 for each coin, i still believe someday both will explode

[skullsandbones]

Stellar is going to the moon!

Invest in that before it goes down!

[IlfarIldarovich]

Good evening , I think your choice is worthy ,these 2 coins are promising ..

[MemberBerries]

Good evening , I think your choice is worthy ,these 2 coins are promising ..

Recent developments coming together -->

Shift/Shift Payments

Since 2014, Ripple has been experimenting on multiple projects developing a debit card that would allow owners to easily spend their digital currencies. It first began as a joint effort along side Shift Payments to create the "Shift Card". Which the project was focused on

  Quote
"working to make it as easy to spend digital currencies, cryptocurrencies and loyalty points as it is to spend regular, fiat money."

https://ripple.com/insights/a-debit-card-powered-by-ripple/

The prototype card was integrated with both Coinbase and Ripple accounts at one point with the partners wanting to integrate the card with loyalty point programs and regular bank accounts in the future. Ripple was planned to be used for the settlement protocol for payment between fiat currencies, digital currencies, mobile minutes, etc. And in further innovation,

  Quote
"The card works offline, online, and internationally, thanks to the support of a major international card network."

https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/shift-is-developing-a-debit-card-that-lets-you-spend-digital-currency-loyalty-points-and-regular-money/

It would later be released that Shift Payments, now Shift, was introducing a VISA backed Bitcoin debit card. Suggesting the probability Ripple had been introduced to VISA long ago....

https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/20/coinbase-partners-with-shift-payments-to-issue-bitcoin-debit-card/

Unfortunately nothing came from it and the test wallets they used for  the pilots have become dormant for several years. (although the main wallet has 375k XRP just sitting there)

https://bithomp.com/explorer/rKbtT6j1JGjFnwkUp2Na1W8XE5Z79VsMYi

https://bithomp.com/explorer/rpfFnyaChjzB8RNfT6VDYioFWfjghYXnvb

Shift appears to have moved on but a possible explanation as to why nothing arose from it might be how cryptocurrencies were not favorably perceived in 2014.

  Quote
“We learned very quickly that no bank here in the U.S. is willing to take that leap and actually support something like this. They were just too nervous and no one was willing to take that reputational risk”

However one of the co-founders of Shift, Meg Nakamura added that

  Quote
“It’s just going to take time,” she says. “U.S. banks are engaged and excited about the technology and its potential. They’re watching regulatory direction closely.”

https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/shift-is-developing-a-debit-card-that-lets-you-spend-digital-currency-loyalty-points-and-regular-money/

Whether they ever use Ripple or not in the future is up for debate but one of Shift's co-founders was Gregg Kidd, the chief risk officer at Ripple during the time. Interesting enough both founded Hard + Yaka, a fund that makes early round investments in exchange space startups. Previous investments? Global ID, Gatehub, Ripple, Coinbase, Shift, Bitso (expect XRPL to run thru it), ShapeShift and to our next topic of conversation.....Marqeta.

http://hardyaka.com/

Marqeta

Marqeta is an open API payment card issuing platform that has been enabling businesses to process credit and debit card payments. Marqeta has been establishing itself as a big company that has attracted notable clients and investors to utilize it's technology. Facebook and Oink are example of clients while this past July, VISA made a strategic investment in the company and formed a partnership to drive further innovations in commercial and consumer payments globally.

  Quote
"As it relates to Marqeta, Visa is poised to aid the company in three significant areas, according to Gardner: For one thing, the global payments company will instantly give Marqeta greater distribution by promoting its developer-centric products to Visa partners and customers. Given its global footprint, Visa also will be able to help Marqeta expand internationally. And finally, Gardner sees an opportunity for Visa and Marqeta to benefit from a technology exchange."

https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/26/visa-marqeta-25m/

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170726005359/en/Visa-Marqeta-Form-Global-Partnership-Drive-New

https://www.pymnts.com/news/partnerships-acquisitions/2017/visa-and-marqeta-partner-to-transform-global-card-issuance/

https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/16/powering-the-facebook-card-marqeta-raises-14m-from-greylock-israel-to-recreate-the-starbucks-loyalty-card-for-merchants/

Marqeta is compatible with the Discover, MasterCard, and VISA networks.

https://www.marqeta.com/api/docs/VhypzxwAANwA_Vgx/cards

The CEO of Marqeta, Jason Gardner, has been very vocal and supportive of blockchain technology and it's possible applications.

  Quote

"When you see big banks like JP Morgan, IBM and Microsoft creating new technologies using blockchain, I don’t think it’s just a flash in the pan. I think people are realizing the efficiencies open-source tech can bring."

adding,

  Quote
"Marqeta, Gardner says, is interested in how banks are connecting with distributed ledger service providers such as Ripple and how the industry more broadly is building new ledgers that increase the speed and efficiency of money movement."

It was also revealed in January 2016 that Marqeta had been working with Ripple on a defunct debit card product that would allow users to spend cryptocurrencies at traditional points of sale.

https://www.coindesk.com/marqeta-ceo-bitcoin-blockchain-tech/

With the test wallets to prove this collaboration,

https://bithomp.com/explorer/rwEFnxs7GQsHXBG9ARZNYcmBkZc81zphMC

https://bithomp.com/explorer/rwYx6Mp1n8yMbGN9K4MkHsSNvibK4MPjQF

(being really active last year and even doing fiat exchanges between USD and JPY)

Only time will tell where this collaboration will lead to but it's safe to say that Ripple has really positioned itself well in regards to VISA and Mastercard. And one other interesting development has been Marqeta's new partnership with Ali Pay.

  Quote
"Through the partnership, Marqeta’s platform will facilitate the completion of Alipay’s payment process in real-time, providing Alipay’s more than 520 million registered users in China with easy and seamless purchasing capabilities at millions of domestic retail locations across the country."

https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/71286/alipay-joins-with-marqeta-for-us-payments-play

  Quote
"With the new connection in place, Alipay’s payment process gets a real-time boost making it easier for a new quantity of retailers in the United States to offer Alipay service to Chinese travelers going abroad. Reports put the total number of Marqeta-compatible merchants in the US in the “millions” range, which should prove quite helpful for those checking out the US on vacation."

https://paymentweek.com/2017-10-27-alipay-marqeta-team-alipays-payment-processing-ambition/

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171020005664/en/Alipay-Taps-Marqeta-Expedite-Payment-Acceptance-Retail

One notable thing did occur (and is accelerating as we speak) this past March, Ripple introduced Payments Channels into the RCL/XRPL and ILP. Thus allowing the XRP Ledger to scale,

  Quote
"An XRP Payment Channel allows transaction throughput to increase to tens of thousands of transactions per second, bringing our scalability to the same level as Visa. With the capability to send money as fast as a credit card swipe, XRP Payment Channels have the ability to transform the way people send money and the payments industry as a whole."

https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-continues-to-bring-internet-of-value-to-life-new-features-increase-transaction-throughput-to-same-level-as-visa/

  Quote
"Our Payment Channel is specifically designed for XRP and allows transaction throughput to increase to tens of thousands of transactions per second. XRP saw nearly 70K transactions with an average time of 3.7 seconds."

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/ripple-claims-transaction-thoroughput-now/

The network has now scaled enough to sustain the amount of transactions the VISA network sustains. One last note,

  Quote
"UK-based Wirex has formed a joint venture with fintech investing powerhouse SBI Holdings to launch a cryptocurrency payments card in Japan. Wirex already offers a Visa-backed cryptocurrency debit card but the new JV, called SBI Wirex Asia, will soon roll out a Yen denominated option. In addition, the partners plan to move into other Asian markets."

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31227/wirex-and-sbi-holdings-team-on-japan-cryptocurrency-payments-card

AirWallex

Ripple partners with ties to major credit card issuers don't end there. AirWallex is an international payments startup that is based in Australia that in October, it's partnership with Ripple became publicly disclosed.

  Quote
"Australia-based Airwallex will use RippleNet to process corporate payments at a highly competitive exchange rate, with low transaction fees, across the APAC region—through which 40 percent of cross-border payments are predicted to flow by 2025."

https://ripple.com/ripple_press/ripples-blockchain-network-now-100-strong/

This past May, AirWallex held a Series A Round in which it raised $13 million dollars in funds for the company. These investors included MasterCard, Gobi Ventures/Partners which is one of Alibaba's investment managers, and Tencent leading the investment round.

  Quote
"Already it is working with Tencent to help lower back-end costs for its WeChat Pay service overseas — which is seen to have potential to grow alongside the emergence of outbound tourism from China, where WeChat is the dominant messaging app — but Zhang said the firm primarily deals with financial institutions, insurance companies and others that “do international payments at scale.” Two undisclosed clients, he said, are forecast to transaction “billions of U.S. dollars” each by the end of 2017, and the firm is on the hunt for more customers in this bracket."

Tencent's WeChat has roughly 980 million monthly users, with users sending about $1.2 trillion in mobile payments in 2016. Along with mobile payments in China, Tencent wants to expand WeChat Pay usage to other regions including South Africa, Philippines, and Malaysia.

https://bankinnovation.net/2017/04/alipay-wechat-processed-3-trillion-in-2016/

http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/11/22/17/wechat-pay-launches-in-philippines-with-asia-united-bank

http://www.marketing-interactive.com/tencent-confirms-plans-to-launch-wechat-pay-in-malaysia/

http://blog.wechat.com/2015/11/25/south-africa-launches-wechat-wallet-the-first-country-officially-outside-china/

And there is one more region that AirWallex is targeting thru a formation of a partnership this past week, Europe. On December 1, AirWallex announced a partnership with Railsbank to enable

  Quote
"Airwallex customers to transact in and out of the UK & EU SEPA zones, and Railsbank customers to access the cross-border FX and payments capabilities of Airwallex."

AirWallex also became Railsbank's

  Quote
"exclusive foreign exchange partner, facilitating cross-border transactions for Railsbank clients with Airwallex’s proprietary payments and FX solution, built for low latency, high volume processing."

Airwallex’s VP of Europe Expansion, Michael Stachowiak speaking on the partnership shared,

  Quote
“Our partnership with Railsbank means we can hook into domestic payment methods through one integration to offer our customers a fast and viable new access point to transact in and out of Europe, encouraging greater transactions and trade between a strengthening European economy and the tiger economies of the Far East.”

https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/71788/airwallex-joins-railsbank-platform

https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2017/airwallex-railsbank-international-payments-partnership/

Along with it's partnership with AirWallex, the previous day Railsbank was one of eleven companies to be chosen by MasterCard to be included in it's Start Path program. With Railsbank being chosen for it's ability to give companies access to global banking networks thru APIs.

https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/71779/latest-mastercard-start-path-program-includes-blockchain-digital-identity-and-healthcare-fintechs

Want to know what happened on November 30? (same day of Railsbank and MasterCard's annoucement) The European Central Bank hosted a digital transformation conference that Ripple was invited to.

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/conferences/shared/pdf/20171130_digital_transformation_conf/Conference_brochure_20171130.pdf

A panel which consisted of Banca Sella, the Central Bank of Netherlands, PayPal, and Ripple was held to speak on the disruptive potential of fintech innovations for the retail payments ecosystem.


Want to know what happened on December 1? (same day as AirWallex and Railsbank's partnership) Brad gave us a nice tweet Smiley


The VISA and MasterCard connections are there and more subtle Alibaba and Tencent connections to Ripple are surfacing. There's a lot of money between Europe and China in e-retail.............

[cryptoenterprise]

Stellar Lumens is more promising atm, it seems to be on a rise and i believe it will continue on this path until the end of the year.

[shirackjs]

XRP seems to be a better choice for me. Why don’t you buy both, you get best of the both world.

[youghten]

Ripple is better than XLM and long term trust coin .

if you have 1000$ and will put it on XRP or XLM it’s better but there is many better than it

[Fuhre]

If you have $1000 will you invest in XRP or XLM?

Maybe if there is an alternative besides the two of them I would choose another alternative, not because I do not trust them. Sometimes I feel numb about the price jumping down. Maybe an alternative that I would choose by buying ethereum as it tends to be more stable. But for both of them I have a view XLM will skyrocket.

[happyme1818]

If you have $1000 will you invest in XRP or XLM?

If there are  only two choices, i will go for XRP rather than XLM. But  you shouldn't limit your self on this two coins, there are more coins to choice from. If i where you i will replace it with XMR, LTC and NEO.

[DBerendey]

I already did about +80% by trading with Stellar. I think XRP will not have such profits. It is great project for banks, but for us as for investors Stellar seems better and i think in nearest future Stellar will come up to 0.25-0.5$. I will buy them again when the bitcoin will stabilize

[MemberBerries]

Good evening , I think your choice is worthy ,these 2 coins are promising ..

Recent developments coming together -->

Shift/Shift Payments

Since 2014, Ripple has been experimenting on multiple projects developing a debit card that would allow owners to easily spend their digital currencies. It first began as a joint effort along side Shift Payments to create the "Shift Card". Which the project was focused on

  Quote
"working to make it as easy to spend digital currencies, cryptocurrencies and loyalty points as it is to spend regular, fiat money."

https://ripple.com/insights/a-debit-card-powered-by-ripple/

The prototype card was integrated with both Coinbase and Ripple accounts at one point with the partners wanting to integrate the card with loyalty point programs and regular bank accounts in the future. Ripple was planned to be used for the settlement protocol for payment between fiat currencies, digital currencies, mobile minutes, etc. And in further innovation,

  Quote
"The card works offline, online, and internationally, thanks to the support of a major international card network."

https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/shift-is-developing-a-debit-card-that-lets-you-spend-digital-currency-loyalty-points-and-regular-money/

It would later be released that Shift Payments, now Shift, was introducing a VISA backed Bitcoin debit card. Suggesting the probability Ripple had been introduced to VISA long ago....

https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/20/coinbase-partners-with-shift-payments-to-issue-bitcoin-debit-card/

Unfortunately nothing came from it and the test wallets they used for  the pilots have become dormant for several years. (although the main wallet has 375k XRP just sitting there)

https://bithomp.com/explorer/rKbtT6j1JGjFnwkUp2Na1W8XE5Z79VsMYi

https://bithomp.com/explorer/rpfFnyaChjzB8RNfT6VDYioFWfjghYXnvb

Shift appears to have moved on but a possible explanation as to why nothing arose from it might be how cryptocurrencies were not favorably perceived in 2014.

  Quote
“We learned very quickly that no bank here in the U.S. is willing to take that leap and actually support something like this. They were just too nervous and no one was willing to take that reputational risk”

However one of the co-founders of Shift, Meg Nakamura added that

  Quote
“It’s just going to take time,” she says. “U.S. banks are engaged and excited about the technology and its potential. They’re watching regulatory direction closely.”

https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/shift-is-developing-a-debit-card-that-lets-you-spend-digital-currency-loyalty-points-and-regular-money/

Whether they ever use Ripple or not in the future is up for debate but one of Shift's co-founders was Gregg Kidd, the chief risk officer at Ripple during the time. Interesting enough both founded Hard + Yaka, a fund that makes early round investments in exchange space startups. Previous investments? Global ID, Gatehub, Ripple, Coinbase, Shift, Bitso (expect XRPL to run thru it), ShapeShift and to our next topic of conversation.....Marqeta.

http://hardyaka.com/

Marqeta

Marqeta is an open API payment card issuing platform that has been enabling businesses to process credit and debit card payments. Marqeta has been establishing itself as a big company that has attracted notable clients and investors to utilize it's technology. Facebook and Oink are example of clients while this past July, VISA made a strategic investment in the company and formed a partnership to drive further innovations in commercial and consumer payments globally.

  Quote
"As it relates to Marqeta, Visa is poised to aid the company in three significant areas, according to Gardner: For one thing, the global payments company will instantly give Marqeta greater distribution by promoting its developer-centric products to Visa partners and customers. Given its global footprint, Visa also will be able to help Marqeta expand internationally. And finally, Gardner sees an opportunity for Visa and Marqeta to benefit from a technology exchange."

https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/26/visa-marqeta-25m/

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170726005359/en/Visa-Marqeta-Form-Global-Partnership-Drive-New

https://www.pymnts.com/news/partnerships-acquisitions/2017/visa-and-marqeta-partner-to-transform-global-card-issuance/

https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/16/powering-the-facebook-card-marqeta-raises-14m-from-greylock-israel-to-recreate-the-starbucks-loyalty-card-for-merchants/

Marqeta is compatible with the Discover, MasterCard, and VISA networks.

https://www.marqeta.com/api/docs/VhypzxwAANwA_Vgx/cards

The CEO of Marqeta, Jason Gardner, has been very vocal and supportive of blockchain technology and it's possible applications.

  Quote

"When you see big banks like JP Morgan, IBM and Microsoft creating new technologies using blockchain, I don’t think it’s just a flash in the pan. I think people are realizing the efficiencies open-source tech can bring."

adding,

  Quote
"Marqeta, Gardner says, is interested in how banks are connecting with distributed ledger service providers such as Ripple and how the industry more broadly is building new ledgers that increase the speed and efficiency of money movement."

It was also revealed in January 2016 that Marqeta had been working with Ripple on a defunct debit card product that would allow users to spend cryptocurrencies at traditional points of sale.

https://www.coindesk.com/marqeta-ceo-bitcoin-blockchain-tech/

With the test wallets to prove this collaboration,

https://bithomp.com/explorer/rwEFnxs7GQsHXBG9ARZNYcmBkZc81zphMC

https://bithomp.com/explorer/rwYx6Mp1n8yMbGN9K4MkHsSNvibK4MPjQF

(being really active last year and even doing fiat exchanges between USD and JPY)

Only time will tell where this collaboration will lead to but it's safe to say that Ripple has really positioned itself well in regards to VISA and Mastercard. And one other interesting development has been Marqeta's new partnership with Ali Pay.

  Quote
"Through the partnership, Marqeta’s platform will facilitate the completion of Alipay’s payment process in real-time, providing Alipay’s more than 520 million registered users in China with easy and seamless purchasing capabilities at millions of domestic retail locations across the country."

https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/71286/alipay-joins-with-marqeta-for-us-payments-play

  Quote
"With the new connection in place, Alipay’s payment process gets a real-time boost making it easier for a new quantity of retailers in the United States to offer Alipay service to Chinese travelers going abroad. Reports put the total number of Marqeta-compatible merchants in the US in the “millions” range, which should prove quite helpful for those checking out the US on vacation."

https://paymentweek.com/2017-10-27-alipay-marqeta-team-alipays-payment-processing-ambition/

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171020005664/en/Alipay-Taps-Marqeta-Expedite-Payment-Acceptance-Retail

One notable thing did occur (and is accelerating as we speak) this past March, Ripple introduced Payments Channels into the RCL/XRPL and ILP. Thus allowing the XRP Ledger to scale,

  Quote
"An XRP Payment Channel allows transaction throughput to increase to tens of thousands of transactions per second, bringing our scalability to the same level as Visa. With the capability to send money as fast as a credit card swipe, XRP Payment Channels have the ability to transform the way people send money and the payments industry as a whole."

https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-continues-to-bring-internet-of-value-to-life-new-features-increase-transaction-throughput-to-same-level-as-visa/

  Quote
"Our Payment Channel is specifically designed for XRP and allows transaction throughput to increase to tens of thousands of transactions per second. XRP saw nearly 70K transactions with an average time of 3.7 seconds."

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/ripple-claims-transaction-thoroughput-now/

The network has now scaled enough to sustain the amount of transactions the VISA network sustains. One last note,

  Quote
"UK-based Wirex has formed a joint venture with fintech investing powerhouse SBI Holdings to launch a cryptocurrency payments card in Japan. Wirex already offers a Visa-backed cryptocurrency debit card but the new JV, called SBI Wirex Asia, will soon roll out a Yen denominated option. In addition, the partners plan to move into other Asian markets."

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31227/wirex-and-sbi-holdings-team-on-japan-cryptocurrency-payments-card

AirWallex

Ripple partners with ties to major credit card issuers don't end there. AirWallex is an international payments startup that is based in Australia that in October, it's partnership with Ripple became publicly disclosed.

  Quote
"Australia-based Airwallex will use RippleNet to process corporate payments at a highly competitive exchange rate, with low transaction fees, across the APAC region—through which 40 percent of cross-border payments are predicted to flow by 2025."

https://ripple.com/ripple_press/ripples-blockchain-network-now-100-strong/

This past May, AirWallex held a Series A Round in which it raised $13 million dollars in funds for the company. These investors included MasterCard, Gobi Ventures/Partners which is one of Alibaba's investment managers, and Tencent leading the investment round.

  Quote
"Already it is working with Tencent to help lower back-end costs for its WeChat Pay service overseas — which is seen to have potential to grow alongside the emergence of outbound tourism from China, where WeChat is the dominant messaging app — but Zhang said the firm primarily deals with financial institutions, insurance companies and others that “do international payments at scale.” Two undisclosed clients, he said, are forecast to transaction “billions of U.S. dollars” each by the end of 2017, and the firm is on the hunt for more customers in this bracket."

Tencent's WeChat has roughly 980 million monthly users, with users sending about $1.2 trillion in mobile payments in 2016. Along with mobile payments in China, Tencent wants to expand WeChat Pay usage to other regions including South Africa, Philippines, and Malaysia.

https://bankinnovation.net/2017/04/alipay-wechat-processed-3-trillion-in-2016/

http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/11/22/17/wechat-pay-launches-in-philippines-with-asia-united-bank

http://www.marketing-interactive.com/tencent-confirms-plans-to-launch-wechat-pay-in-malaysia/

http://blog.wechat.com/2015/11/25/south-africa-launches-wechat-wallet-the-first-country-officially-outside-china/

And there is one more region that AirWallex is targeting thru a formation of a partnership this past week, Europe. On December 1, AirWallex announced a partnership with Railsbank to enable

  Quote
"Airwallex customers to transact in and out of the UK & EU SEPA zones, and Railsbank customers to access the cross-border FX and payments capabilities of Airwallex."

AirWallex also became Railsbank's

  Quote
"exclusive foreign exchange partner, facilitating cross-border transactions for Railsbank clients with Airwallex’s proprietary payments and FX solution, built for low latency, high volume processing."

Airwallex’s VP of Europe Expansion, Michael Stachowiak speaking on the partnership shared,

  Quote
“Our partnership with Railsbank means we can hook into domestic payment methods through one integration to offer our customers a fast and viable new access point to transact in and out of Europe, encouraging greater transactions and trade between a strengthening European economy and the tiger economies of the Far East.”

https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/71788/airwallex-joins-railsbank-platform

https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2017/airwallex-railsbank-international-payments-partnership/

Along with it's partnership with AirWallex, the previous day Railsbank was one of eleven companies to be chosen by MasterCard to be included in it's Start Path program. With Railsbank being chosen for it's ability to give companies access to global banking networks thru APIs.

https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/71779/latest-mastercard-start-path-program-includes-blockchain-digital-identity-and-healthcare-fintechs

Want to know what happened on November 30? (same day of Railsbank and MasterCard's annoucement) The European Central Bank hosted a digital transformation conference that Ripple was invited to.

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/conferences/shared/pdf/20171130_digital_transformation_conf/Conference_brochure_20171130.pdf

A panel which consisted of Banca Sella, the Central Bank of Netherlands, PayPal, and Ripple was held to speak on the disruptive potential of fintech innovations for the retail payments ecosystem.


Want to know what happened on December 1? (same day as AirWallex and Railsbank's partnership) Brad gave us a nice tweet Smiley


The VISA and MasterCard connections are there and more subtle Alibaba and Tencent connections to Ripple are surfacing. There's a lot of money between Europe and China in e-retail.............

People read this and think for one second before becoming brainlet

[trickyriky]

If you have $1000 will you invest in XRP or XLM?

I know there is a great temptation to invest this money into Stellar Lumens as this coin is growing (I do not take care of the drop due to BTC jump), but I would better trust Dash, as the one of the reliable currencies.

[Noore Najjar]

If you have $1000 will you invest in XRP or XLM?

XLM and XRP were dependably intended should be An span between the fiat and crypto world. while many researcher trust that those old world of banks a, monetary framework and financial structure will vanish under those weight of crypto dominance, but id rather choose XRP above XLM because it have high volume trading and more trustable.

[SouthernDiscomfort]

Since both coins have seen significant gains and attention outside of traditional cryptocurrency communication channels (XRP seeing much more of it), I think there is still much to be seen from both projects in terms of longevity not related to the actual tech behind the coin itself. How new investors to the community view the coins brands will most likely out weigh their knowledge of the product in terms of choosing one coin over the other.  As we saw with Ripple's sharp rise and decline, and Steller's steady rise after major loses, one points to fear and lack of knowledge of the markets, the other I believe in intermediate investors seeing a good, cheap coin in Steller. I made my initial gains in XPR early on through hearing that the banks ever very much involved (to say the least). I choose XLM on the dev team and potential of the project.

[Happy Smile]

None. I will go with XVG. More developments coming this year.