A senior officer at Ripple, Asheesh Birla, recently revealed that the company’s leading product, XRP-based payments platform called On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), processed billions of dollars in transactional volume for 2020.

Birla, via his Twitter feed, disclosed that RippleNet, Ripple’s institutional payment-providers network, had an impressive showing last year as it powered around 3 million transactions while opening its services to 18 new countries and signing 15 new deals amid growing regulatory challenges facing the company on its token XRP.

READ: Ripple adds Bank of America to payment network

“All things considered, Ripple had a pretty incredible year in 2020. In my 7+ years at Ripple, I remain insanely proud of what this team has achieved, and I’m bullish on where we’re going. Diving deeper specifically on RippleNet.

“We processed ~3M transactions on RN in 2020, and ODL is rapidly growing. ODL transactions accounted for $2.4B in notional value. We planted the RN flag in 18 new countries and signed 15 deals AFTER the SEC complaint was made public,” Birla said.

READ: Ripple plans to bring XRP ledger to central banks

All things considered, Ripple had a pretty incredible year in 2020. In my 7+ years at Ripple, I remain insanely proud of what this team has achieved, and I’m bullish on where we’re going. Diving deeper specifically on RippleNet… 1/8 https://t.co/6LDpqTofJ7

— Asheesh Birla (@ashgoblue) January 25, 2021

What you should know: The XRP Ledger (XRPL) is an open-source, decentralized blockchain technology that provides significant benefits for banks such as scalability, speed, and cost.

• Financial institutions using it today leverage XRPL for its ability to fully settle transactions for fractions of a penny and in just 3-5 seconds—faster than any other major blockchain.
• Built for payments, XRPL can also be used to support the issuance of stablecoins with a unique, fungible token functionality called Issued Currencies.
• Issued Currencies is designed to be the ideal stablecoin platform, providing simple but rich management functionality for the issuer that makes it easy to create, issue, and manage any asset—including stablecoin.

READ: XRP drops 14% over lawsuit from U.S Securities and Exchange Commission

Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, also boasted about the company’s achievements despite its ongoing legal tussle with America’s powerful financial regulator.

“By the numbers, RippleNet had a banner year. In 2020, we processed nearly 3 million transactions over RippleNet – this is nearly 5X volume growth compared to 2019. On-Demand Liquidity continues to grow and scale – we experienced 12x year over year growth, and transactions in 2020 had a notional value of ~$2.4 Billion.

READ: Bitcoin is giving better returns than the Nigerian stock market

“Customer interest globally remains very strong – the team continued to close new customer deals at a rate of two per week, across more than 40 countries.”

“To continue driving fresh innovation in crypto – and interoperability in payments – we’re focused on tackling central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as the future of fiat. Key to this will be our ongoing work with central banks and developing protocols that support the direct exchange of CBDCs on XRPL, using XRP as a bridge currency,” said Brad Garlinghouse

Convincing an average Nigerian to invest in digital finances has been quite the task in the spent years and the last decade has witnessed many instances that has reinforced the distrust of many in digital economics.

Many more have been sidetracked by the very high amounts needed as inputs at the entry points of these digital markets. Many have embraced the reliability of physical goods and fiat currencies over the speculative, volatile nature of digital ‘money’ and for many who in parts have the stomach to take risks and trust the system enough to attempt, the high-end input cost have dissuaded them.

The reality of the global economy, with respect to these times; trade wars, pandemic and lockdowns that has crippled economies, recession and the sharp fall in the value of crude oil that has suffered on the livelihood and sustenance of people necessitates the need for an easier entry point.

READ: World’s biggest asset manager provides Bitcoin to clients

Further justifying this, sequel to the surge in the values of BTC and subsequently, the profitability and the rates of the dollar against the Naira, that has informed, inspired more and more thousands of investment into the digital currency, there is an increased need from many point of views for subsidies and ease of transaction and trading for easier access, transitioning and the benefit of the common/average man, who would like to buy into the ‘cool” money BTC is positioned to yield.

A common misconception that is generic to new investors and many interested parties in BTC and one of the FAQ’s asked are;

1. How do I make my very first investment in Bitcoin and
2. What is the least amount I can invest in BTC?
3. Do I need up to a million or tens of thousands of Naira to make my first BTC purchase?

Let us answer the questions in reverse.

READ: Present day cryptos won’t last long – Bank of England

3. No, you do not need millions, you do not have to invest in cryptocurrency. If you have, however, the same rule of economics applies in cryptocurrency. The higher the investment, the higher the likelihood of better profitability.

2. There’s fantastic news for those who are new to the crypto community: you can buy any fraction of a single bitcoin! And in Nigerian terms, as little as 5k’ (#5000) can buy fractions of BTC. The smallest unit of Bitcoin is called a ‘satoshi.’ It represents one hundred millionth of a bitcoin, or 0.00000001 BTC, and is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous founder of Bitcoin. These smaller units pave the way for tiny pieces of bitcoin to be obtained, which ensures that in incredibly small denominations you can acquire.

1. Acquiring Bitcoin is not as hard as flying a plane and with a little help or some research, you can put your money safely in a system that assuredly secures a guaranteed percentage yield.

Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to help you understand how to quickly and safely buy small amounts of bitcoin.

READ: Anchorage obtains 1st U.S federal Chartered Crypto bank license

i. Smartly select your purchasing platform

You need to carefully pick a trading platform that best suits the transaction when dealing with cryptocurrencies, whether it is buying or selling. Either through a standard exchange or a peer-to-peer network, there are two ways to trade digital currencies.

ii. Periodic transactions vs. peer-to-peer networks

Let’s start with standard crypto-currency exchanges to better understand these two choices. These are the businesses or centralized organizations that receive, purchase and sell orders and match them from individuals. These exchanges will pair you with a trading partner and make it easier for your cryptocurrency or fiat to be converted safely to bitcoin and vice versa.

To allow them to transact directly, these platforms link the buyer with the seller, while the escrow service ensures that the BTC is secure. Third-party arbitrators can participate only if a dispute has been filed. Other than that, no other human intervention in the trade will occur.

READ: Blockvila launches the world’s first profit sharing and cashback P2P crypto exchange

iii. Create a digital wallet

Create a digital wallet, with your wallet address and keys safely stored preferably offline for safekeeping. This will serve as your bank for transactions and storage for digital values and assets. You will find recommendations of digital wallet in your research. Choose wisely as this could be the undoing of your investments

iv. Make your purchase

Subsequent to the account and wallet creation, the next thing is the purchase. There are several offers tailored to fit individual preferences and needs. Choose the offer that best fulfill your preference. Find the Bitcoin equivalent of the amount you intend to purchase using Bitcoin calculator tools online, then, proceed to click on the “Buy Bitcoin” button.

Next…

READ: Ethereum on a rampage, fast approaching $1,000

v. Input amount

Enter the amount of bitcoin that you would like to purchase. It’s important to always be aware of the minimum exchange amount when you buy small amounts of bitcoin. From 10 USD, 20 USD, 50 USD, and up, you can go.

vi. Select your currency

Specify the currency for the bitcoin purchase you are using. If you ever forget to indicate one, it will be selected with 99 percent accuracy automatically based on your position.

vii. Choose payment method

Clicking on the “Buy Bitcoin” button will redirect you to a drop-down where you can pick the payment method you want. There are hundreds of types of payment you may choose from. Cash deposits are among the most common via bank transfers; multiple online wallets such as PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller; iTunes and Amazon gift cards, cash in person; and altcoins such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and many more. Remember that the price of your transaction is influenced by these payment methods. Bank transfers and other traditional types of payment typically have lower fees than the less common ones.

viii. Scout for your desired offer

You can press the ‘Search’ button after completing all the required information. This will guide you to a list of deals on the site that are available. Hundreds and even thousands of deals are available to choose from.

Okay take a breather here. Before you proceed…

ix. Vet every single detail of the transaction

Don’t forget to review every detail and read all the deal terms set by the seller once you’ve found your perfect offer. This will assist you to understand which deal you should comply with. You should click on “Buy” when you are good with the terms and pleased with the bid.

x. Complete the transaction

Clicking “Buy” opens the trade with the chatbox and the instructions. Click the “Mark as Paid” button after completing the trade instructions, submitting all the documents and files required, and the payment. The trade will expire if you do not click this, and bitcoin will be released back to the vendor from escrow.

The trade cannot be canceled by the seller at this stage. At any time, only the buyer can cancel the trade. That’s the only time when the seller’s bitcoin is moved from escrow back to the seller’s wallet if the buyer cancels the transaction.

If followed to the letter, buying Bitcoin with as little as #5000 is just as easy as making purchases up to hundreds of thousands. Now you have no reason not to invest in the future and have your share in the digital economy.

It’s now becoming certain that a significant number of investors are grabbing flagship crypto asset, Bitcoin, for wealth gains, as about 12.6% of Bitcoin supply is held by investors who bought at over a $30,000 price tag.

• Data retrieved from Glassnode reveals 12.6% of the Bitcoin supply (2.3 million BTC) was moved at prices above $30,000.
• This is substantial, given that $BTC crossed $30k just this year. It suggests that investors are injecting capital, and therefore confidence in further price appreciation.

READ: 273,000 Bitcoins taken away from crypto market within a month

12.6% of the #Bitcoin supply (2.3M BTC) was moved at prices above $30,000 USD.

This is substantial, given that $BTC crossed $30k just this year. It suggests investors are injecting capital, and therefore confidence in further price appreciation.

Chart: https://t.co/Q0OZye5SIk pic.twitter.com/mUFA2cRtPw

— glassnode (@glassnode) January 25, 2021

READ: List of Cryptos expected to outperform many financial assets in 2021

Also, the number of addresses holding 1,000 BTC just reached a new all-time high of 2,446.

What this means: Over the last 21 days, 141 new whale addresses with over 1,000 BTC were created, suggesting large entities are expecting a significant price rise for Bitcoin in the near future.

• The total amount of capital inflows into Bitcoin in the past 30 days (as estimated by the realized cap), is as high as the whole $BTC market cap in Sept 2017 and early 2019 at $70 billion USD.
  Bitcoin is seeing the largest depletion of liquidity in years.
• Not only are funds being withdrawn from exchanges, but coins are continuously moving to strong hands.
• In the past 30 days, around 270,000 BTC moved to entities considered HODLers.

READ: Crypto traders suffer heavy losses of $639 million within a day

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $32,208.24 with a daily trading volume of $58.9 billion. It is down 0.50% for the day.

It has a circulating supply of 18,611,475 BTC coins and a max. supply of 21,000,000 BTC coins.

Chainalysis found that although retail traders are responsible for 96% of transactions, professionals move the bulk of the volume.

READ: Why Ethereum is becoming more attractive than Bitcoin

“Retail traders, whom we categorize as those who deposit less than $10,000 USD worth of Bitcoin on exchanges at a time, appear to be the large majority, accounting for 96% of all transfers sent to exchanges on an average weekly basis.

“Professional traders, however, control the liquidity of the market, accounting for 85% of all the USD value of Bitcoin value sent to exchanges,” it said.

READ: 94% of Bitcoin investors are making money

The report continued by stating:

“Bitcoin moving from the investment bucket (or potentially even the lost bucket if the earliest adopters still have their private keys) into the trading bucket could become a crucial source of liquidity.

“However, one would expect this will only happen if Bitcoin’s price rises to a level at which long-term investors are willing to sell.”