Ripple has announced a new service that is aimed at finance companies, which will give them the ability to offer cryptocurrency trading to their customers.
The liquidity hub is currently in the preview stage and will launch in 2022. According to the announcement on the company’s blogpost, the mainstream cryptocurrency requires engagement from financial institutions and in order to do so, Ripple has decided to launch a liquidity hub for six cryptocurrencies.
It stated, “To enable this, today we revealed plans for Ripple Liquidity Hub, a groundbreaking new way for enterprises to easily and efficiently source digital assets from the broader crypto market. As a crypto liquidity platform built for the enterprise, it will unleash the potential to access deep liquidity within markets, accelerating the shift to crypto.”
What you should know
The new service will target its enterprise clients giving them access to digital assets from a range of providers such as exchanges, market makers, and over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks.
The product would give business customers access to the BTC, ETH, LTC, ETC and BCH. The product would also include XRP, Ripple’s native coin that it already offers with its existing services.
“While the XRP Ledger and XRP are and will remain a native part of our tech stack, we at Ripple believe that achieving interoperability is key to unlocking crypto’s true potential. The ability to interoperate crypto across networks will break down barriers to entry and enable greater competition and inclusion. Because of this, Ripple Liquidity Hub will initially support BTC, ETH, LTC, ETC, BCH and XRP (availability will vary by geography) with plans to add additional digital assets over time,” it stated.
The announcement explains that the Ripple Liquidity Hub will use smart order routing to find digital assets at the best prices. The first partner for the new service is Coinme, the payments and crypto ATM company that is now working with Walmart to allow customers to buy bitcoin at about 200 kiosks in Walmart stores.
Ripple stated, “Designed as a turnkey solution for financial institutions, Ripple Liquidity Hub will leverage smart order routing to source digital assets at optimized prices from market makers, exchanges, and OTC desks. Enterprises will use Ripple Liquidity Hub to easily and seamlessly provide their end customers with the ability to buy, sell and hold digital assets at the best possible prices across a range of venues.”
Ripple also plans to add features such as support for staking and yield generating functions. It stated, “In the future, Ripple plans to add functionality such as staking and yield generating functionalities.”
What they are saying
Ripple’s General Manager, Asheesh Birla explained that the company has been successfully using this same crypto sourcing technology to support Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product for nearly two years. Now, in response to customer demand, the company is making this proven resource available as a customer-facing product for 2022 and beyond.
He stated, “We know full well the need for easy and efficient liquidity management. Crypto and financial institutions are embedded in our DNA. So, it makes perfect sense that as they prepare for a crypto-first world, our customers would want access to the same trusted one-stop-shop for buying, selling and holding crypto assets that has powered our own extensive work with financial institutions.”
Conclusion
Ripple is still in a court case against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has alleged that Ripple raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering. So far, Ripple seems to be winning the case.
In recent developments, Magistrate Judge, Sarah Netburn has ordered the company to find and produce video and audio recordings of its internal meetings for evidence in the case.
XRP currently trades $1.24, down 1.77% as of the time of this reporting.