Open-source, distributed payments infrastructure Stellar (XLM) is aiming to surpass Ripple (XRP) as it teams up with Keybase to improve cross-border transactions.
Aimed at connecting people to low-cost financial services to fight poverty and develop individual potential, according to its website, Stellar has revealed that it is working with Keybase, a free security app for mobile phones and computers, to boost cross-border transactions. This is something that Ripple offers through its RippleNet blockchain platform that has over 100 member banks and financial institutions.
According to the announcement, the partnership between Stellar and Keybase means that investors and asset holders can conduct cross-border payments without needing to know a long string of digits as a key. Instead, all that’s required is a ‘human-readable username.’
Stellar said:
“In short, I can interact with her financially in the same way I interact with her socially.”
The team are hoping that the end product would be like a ‘global, decentralised Venmo,’ – a mobile payment service that allows users to send money to each other via a mobile phone app or web interface – where every crypto asset can be sent, not just a person’s local currency.
Created by co-founder Jed McCaleb, the original owner behind the now-defunct Mt Gox exchange, and the founder of real-time settlement system Ripple, there are many similarities between the two altcoins, given the fact that they have been created to function with financial establishments.
However, unlike Ripple, which is a for-profit enterprise, Stellar functions as a nonprofit organisation. Not only that, but while Ripple is considered to operate in a centralised fashion Stellar has taken a more decentralised approach.
Yet, while Ripple’s market cap value is nearly five times bigger than Stellar’s, putting it into third place, that doesn’t appear to be stopping seventh-placed Stellar from making up ground first as it works at improving services. The hope, though, is that with the addition of Keybase working with Stellar investors will look to the company in order to provide better services for their customers. This, in turn, could potentially bump the XLM token price up.
Of course, only time will tell whether or not Stellar will be able to eventually overtake Ripple and become the cross-border payment platform of choice. For now, it’s too early to say.
