Ripple and Coinbase Partnership?

On September 17th,2019, rumours of a Ripple and coinbase partnership were rekindled following a talk at the IECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum in Paris.

During the event, the head of Ripple’s global institutional markets team, Breanne Madigan joined a panel on regulation in digital finance. When she talked about Ripple’s xRapid, she used Coinbase as an example of how a corporation could use xRapid to transfer value across the world.

She stated:

“We signed a deal with MoneyGram to help facilitate their cross-border flows. So the way it works is, through our partnership, we send MoneyGram’s flow to one of what we call our originating exchanges – say it’s Coinbase in the US, as an example.” 

Madigan also mentioned how Ripple is working on getting adequate liquidity to launch xRapid in new corridors using additional currencies apart from the US dollar and Mexican peso.

The comments swiftly spread on Twitter, with members of the XRP community questioning if Coinbase is really on board.

As for regulatory concerns, Madigan claimed Ripple is particularly concerned about the lack of clarity and the sluggish pace of cryptocurrency regulation in the US.

Is Coinbase on Board?

Coinbase announced early in the year that it would be assisting XRP on its Pro platform. 

The platform is designed for use by professional dealers and investors. Nonetheless, on the traditional site open to more casual users, XRP remains notably absent for a coin ranked 3rd in regards to market cap. 

Ripple Plans to Enter the Global Micropayments Industry

Ripple’s senior VP of product management, Asheesh Birla, recently told the Change the Wave podcast that the company is exploring means by which it could play a direct role in the emerging world of micropayments.It seems that the company is considering to expand its services beyond cross-border transactions. Based on Birla’s comments, apart from payments being the preliminary use case for Ripple, he is contemplating of what other cool products they can build to offer their users. One of the products forecasted is microloans.