Cryptocurrency company looks for Ripple effect
The cryptocurrency company Ripple has developed an initiative to create more opportunities for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses by offering what it says are tools for growth.
The company launched Xpring (pronounced Spring) to provide grants to businesses using the technology behind the cryptocurrency XRP.
“Xpring is a way for us to invest in, partner with and help develop a community of businesses using XRP as a fundamental technology,” Cory Johnson, chief market strategist at Ripple, told Liz Claman during a FOX Business interview on Monday.
Ripple is working with the recording artist Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun, who is involved in a number of entrepreneurial efforts within the music industry.
"Braun “is looking at XRP, and we are going to help him partner to use XRP,” said Johnson, who joined Ripple from Bloomberg TV earlier this year.
The advantages of using the digital asset XRP and the XRP Ledger will solve the problems of moving digitally data and value in a secure way, according to Johnson.
“Understanding who somebody is and knowing that a piece of data is real, these are all things possible using XRP,” Johnson said on the “Countdown to the Closing Bell” program.
The craze over digital currency has been criticized by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett for its anonymity and being a nonproductive asset in the markets.
“No money has been made from bitcoin where somebody pays somebody else to own the same thing” Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told Liz Claman during its recent annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. “Bitcoin has produced nothing.”
Johnson said if Buffett would see Ripple’s uses, he would have a better understanding of cryptocurrency.
“There’s isn’t a bigger Buffett fan than me,” Johnson said. “He doesn’t know what he is talking about here.”
XRP, the largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin and ethereum, is a less expensive alternative.
Bitcoin is well off the recent highs of $19,000 six months ago and currently trading above $8,500. XRP is trading at slightly below $0.75 and has a total of $28 billion in coin market cap.