Bitcoin’s first ten years of existence was mixed but exhilarating. There is enthusiasm from the token’s die-hards and well, vitriol from skeptics. Its appeal of censorship resistance and decentralization has attracted many forward-thinking leading tech minds such as Apple’s Steve Wozniak, and Jack Dorsey of Twitter.
It’s very vocal naysayers, on the other hand, include Black Rock’s Larry Fink, Warren Buffet, Jamie Dimon, and Ben Bernanke, former chair of the Federal Reserve. These critics all come from a position of power in the legacy finance world. Why? Turkeys cannot favor Christmas.
Even so, Bitcoin has the potential to overturn the way the globe approaches money matters. It altogether forgoes intermediaries and takes away the control of money from these old financial institutions and governments as well. But in doing so, it may also help drive Ripple (XRP) adoption, effectively becoming the platform’s best friend:
Financial Institutions love Ripple (XRP)
Christine Lagarde, the IMF M.D has recently made the statement saying “the role of the disruptors and anything that is using distributed ledger technology…is clearly shaking the system,”. Adding that “we don’t want innovation that would shake the system so much that we would lose the stability that is needed.”
The IMF boss has however in the past endorsed Ripple saying that it has the potential to disrupt the bank’s business model and reduce their costs impacting livelihoods positively:
“That is where I see changes happening now. If you think of Circle, and Ripple and all those, that’s where they are active and helpful.’”
Ben Bernanke has also in the past attended a Ripple conference and endorsed it saying that the platform’s efforts to cut down on transaction costs and increase reliability and accuracy were going to bring the world’s economy closer. Of Bitcoin, the Brookings Institute fellow said that it was an attempt to evade regulation from the government and replace fiat, something that governments will not allow to succeed.
So why are these legacy financial systems leaders so bullish towards Ripple and bearish towards Bitcoin? Bitcoin is staunchly against regulation, but Ripple is all for working with the system through blockchain. Ripple has allowed these old fiat controllers to enjoy the benefits of moving money faster and more efficiently without bending the knee to a fully decentralized system like Bitcoin’s.
Ripple Okay with Regulation
Ripple (XRP) has in the past actually called for more regulation in the digital currency sector, to help create an equilibrium between “capturing risk and enabling innovation.” This according to Ripple’s Ryan Zagone would attract more institutional investors into the fledgling market.
Ripple has grown in market cap size and has made great headways into the financial scene building partnerships with hundreds of large banks such as Bank of America. Besides, executives behind Ripple are determined to ensure that its platform will be what banks use to move their inter-bank transactions. This could further push XRPs value through the roof.
The fact of the matter is Bitcoin’s strong stance against regulation and centralization has greatly benefited XRP. Bitcoin (BTC), therefore, is Ripple’s best friend. Without BTC causing so much angst in the traditional finance circles, Ripple would have had a harder time making friends there. Mining BTC expends lots of energy, while XRP is considered energy efficient and faster. These inefficiencies inherent in Bitcoin but lacking in Ripple have most certainly helped Ripple become the force to reckon with that it is today.
