The CEO of fintech firm Ripple has compared Bitcoin to that of Napster, arguing that it could pave the way for greater things.
That’s the view of Brad Garlinghouse whose company is San Francisco-based Ripple, which is developing a network for faster global payments. XRP is the token that financial establishments on the network can use to undertake transactions quickly.
Garlinghouse made his comments at the Recode’s Code Conference, reports CNET, where he said:
“We may come to find that Bitcoin is kind of the Napster of digital assets. This is transformative technology, but Spotify and iTunes and Pandora rule the day because they engaged with regulators to solve a real problem.”
He goes on to say that he believes that the idea of Bitcoin replacing fiat money is a bad idea. He argues that while people talk about using the cryptocurrency to make payments for purchases such as a cup of coffee, transactions can take up to 20 minutes to do so.
Unsurprisingly, Garlinghouse believes that Ripple and XRP hold the answer, particularly when it comes to making fast payments. The third-ranked cryptocurrency, with a market cap value worth over $24 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, is being seen as a major player in the crypto world. Ripple itself boasts some significant names on its network such as Santander, UBS, American Express, and MoneyGram to name a few. And unlike Bitcoin’s three transactions processed per second, Ripple outshines it with its 1,500 per second.
Not only that, but the use of its XRP token is showing how quickly transfers can be done in real time. Earlier this month, it was reported that actor and tech investor Ashton Kutcher had made a surprise donation to Ellen DeGeneres toward The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund. On behalf of Ripple, Kutcher and his business partner, Guy Oseary, donated $4 million in XRP. Shown live the actor had DeGeneres push a button on his phone that instantly transferred the millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency to the charity.
Yet, while the altcoin is proving popular that’s not to say that it hasn’t escaped the clutches of a volatile market. In the first quarter of 2018, XRP lost 70 percent of its value when it fell from a high of $3.84 in January. During the same period, Bitcoin lost 50 percent of its value. Furthermore, Ripple faces a lawsuit for allegedly violating state and federal laws by offering unregistered securities to retail investors, according to a report from Bloomberg.
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