Ripple (XRP)–On Wednesday Ripple, the blockchain-based parent company behind popular cryptocurrency XRP, announced that it would be investing 25 million USD worth of XRP into Blockchain Capital Parallel IV, LP–the first fund of its kind to accept capital calls in digital assets. This is in addition to the 29 million USD worth of XRP that Ripple donated last month to public schools in the United States through the popular charity outlet Donorschoose.org.
Ripple’s investment is apart of a 150 million USD fund being managed by Blockchain Capital, with the purpose of investing entirely in the development, growth and utilization of blockchain principles. The fund is targeting entrepreneurs and development teams using blockchain in both novel ways and furthering the implementation of cryptocurrency in the real world. By investing in start-ups, Ripple hopes to stimulates the market for crypto-based development using the concept of blockchain. In addition to being an investment partner, the fund comes with the ability for Ripple to identify and potentially influence new use-cases for XRP (the native currency of Ripple), thereby giving current coin investors a reason to hold the cryptocurrency outside of present projections of bank adoption.
Ripple Building a Name Through Investment and Charity
Last November, TechCrunch founder and cryptocurrency advocate Michael Arrington stirred the markets by announcing his founding of a hedge fund based entirely in XRP. Titled Arrington XRP Capital, the fund was the first of its kind to accept investments and be valued in XRP. We wrote at the time that Ripple was the most obvious choice for a hedge-fund based in cryptocurrency. Not only does Ripple offer high liquidity through its 100 billion coin supply, but the currency has been hard at work through much of 2018 entwining itself with the industry of fintech and global money transfer. Ripple has already partnered with three of the world’s top five money-transfer companies (MoneyGram and Western Union being the largest), to provide XRP-based transfers from anywhere in the world. In addition, Ripple is currently the most adopted cryptocurrency by banks and financial services, with SBI Holdings in Japan and the Saudi Central Bank being two of the larger names on the list.
Several weeks ago, Ripple pulled the heart-strings of the general public and school children across the United States by gifting the largest donation in cryptocurrency history to fill 29 million USD worth of projects listed on DonorsChoose. According to The New York Times, Ripple’s donation will directly benefit one in six schools across the country, having a trickle-down effect that will impact the lives of millions of children–many of which live in the nation’s most impoverished areas.
The newly established fund under Blockchain Capital is looking to implement XRP and blockchain into sectors ranging as far as healthcare and identity management. In particular, the medical field would benefit from the implementation of blockchain protocols (with Ripple’s ledger being well-adjusted for the task) in order to better manage patient records, medication supplies and the general flow of hospital administration. Blockchain also has a looming presence in the future of insurance and identity management, with a potential pivot into the most obvious use-case of election balloting and voter-protection.
Bart Stephens, co-founder and managing partner of Blockchain Capital, is particularly bullish on the potential of investing in blockchain projects:
“As pioneers in the blockchain sector, we have been on the frontlines and in the trenches with our portfolio companies, like Ripple, building a new crypto ecosystem. There are entire verticals — such as healthcare or identity management — that could benefit from blockchain or distributed ledger technology. Whether it’s using XRP, bitcoin or just the underlying blockchain technology, our goal is to find the best projects and give them the resources to be successful companies that deliver value to customers for the long term.”
Even if XRP fails to materialize as a major winner from Ripple’s new investment, it shows tenacity on behalf of the company to grow the brand of their cryptocurrency. XRP is already leading the industry in terms of new partnerships and real-world adopters since the start of the year. Blockchain Capital, in addition to the philanthropic efforts of Ripple, further establishes investor confidence in both the parent company and XRP token. Not only will Ripple benefit from greater recognition as a company defining the space of cryptocurrency and blockchain, but XRP investors have reason to value the currency long-term.