Cryptocurrency
Ripple (XRP) on 2 New platforms – Uphold Bank and London Block Exchange
Ripple (XRP) is constantly being talked about, every week we have new Exchanges adding this cryptocurrency to their portfolio, we have Money Transfer companies- Western Union and Moneygram already announced their move on adding ripple to their methods of payment- and even banks want to make partnerships with Ripple, as it is the case of Santander.
How much more commotion can this Ripple news train handle? Probably a lot. In the last couple of days, we have two more interesting updates on Ripple expansion throughout the financial world.
Firstly, the crypto bank Updhold, based in the United States, opened the option to buy Ripple on their platform.
Secondly, London Block Exchange (LDX) announced the addition of Ripple(XRP) to their portfolio.
Uphold making Ripple available 
Uphold, denominates itself as a “cloud-based financial services platform”, which I think we can call a Crypto bank, just to make it simpler. The CEO from this Bank, Adrian Steckel, announced, two days ago, that “There has been a huge demand for XRP, and Uphold is one of the first platforms to make XRP easily accessible.”
We can all agree that Ripple (XRP) clearly has a huge demand. The price of this coin rose 36018% in 2017. Compared to any other cryptocurrency, this was the biggest increase. Bellow is a graph with the “Biggest Winners” of 2017 that shows this exactly, Ripple owning the 1st place.
Uphold, considered a crypto bank, is not a crypto exchange like Coinbase. It is a company that works more similar to a bank, it allows their members to buy and hold different currencies, make conversions to any other currencies and also to send them to other members globally.
So now, Uphold users can buy XRP with zero transaction fees, for the first 5 million XRP they buy. Using Uphold, people can convert XRP into seven other cryptocurrencies, 23 fiat currencies and 4 precious metals. Ripple (XRP) becomes the eight cryptocurrency that Uphold offers, joining Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Ethereum (ETH), Dash (DASH) and Basic Attention Token (BAT).
Link to Uphold Website: http://uphold.com
London Block Exchange adds Ripple
Introducing this Exchange, it is the only cryptocurrency exchange based in the United Kingdom. It is a registered Electronic Money Services Directive (EMD) for e-wallet functionality by U.K’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Which means that LBX is the sole operator in the Market Delivering U.K. on-shore banking and at the same time, the only exchange to offer Ripple-GBP pairing.
Ripple is now joining Bitcoin, Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on LDX, making it the 5th cryptocurrency available on this exchange. Below you can find a statement said by Benjamin Dives, LBX founder and CEO, proving that London Block Exchange is also making plans on adding more cryptocurrencies to its platform.
“As we open our doors to U.K crypto enthusiasts, we’re listening and acting on what the community wants, and that’s an array of good quality coin options to trade, all backed by a reliable, comprehensive, and user-friendly service that they can trust.” also adding “And we’ll be adding more coins by the week. So watch this space.”
This exchange is very interesting because at the same time it gives to the users a platform to buy, sell, exchange and trade cryptocurrencies, it also tries to educate and help people understand more about Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology, by providing a space where the users can access educational materials.
The educational segment of their platform is called “College of Crypto”. It is a page that tries to help all kinds of traders by offering valuable information for a wide range of traders. Information that can be valuable for first timers or beginners, but also for veterans or expert traders.
Link to London Block Exchange Website: http://lbx.com
What the Future Holds for Ripple (XRP)
As I said above, the news on Companies, Exchanges and Banks working on adding ripple to its environment are always flowing. This is a major asset for this cryptocurrency as it constantly proves its value and makes its Market Cap grow more and more.
The only remaining questions are: Will Coinbase add Ripple? And if so, when will that happen?
Most people say yes it will and it will be in a near future. Statements that I have to agree with, since Ripple doesn’t stop proving its Value, it is a coin that fulfills Coinbase’s requirements and also has an amazing potential on keeping their Market Cap growing and probably to make their price go through the roof.