Grayscale Shines a Spotlight on XRP as a Potential Alternative to SWIFT for Cross-Border Payments
Grayscale Spotlights XRP as an Alternative to SWIFT in Cross-Border Payments
Grayscale, a leading investment firm, recently focused on XRP as a viable alternative to SWIFT in cross-border payments. This came as part of their effort to highlight the differences between fiat and crypto assets. In an update to their Grayscale Currencies Crypto Sector released earlier this month, the investment firm shed light on the crypto asset sector, categorizing each of the largest cryptocurrencies into specific groups.
The Grayscale Crypto Sector is a framework created by Grayscale to help investors gain a thorough understanding of how the crypto sector operates, providing them with valuable insights to shape their investment decisions. The latest update highlighted the key difference between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies – the lack of governmental control. In fiat currencies, governmental control can come in the form of money printing and interest rate reviews.
The report also detailed the largest crypto assets currently tracked in its Crypto Sector framework, including Bitcoin (BTC), XRP, Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Stellar (XLM), Monero (XMR), and Bitcoin SV (BSV). Surprisingly, Ethereum (ETH) was notably missing from the list.
Speaking on the position of Bitcoin, the report emphasized its role as a safe haven for individuals in inflation-ridden countries like Venezuela and Argentina. The limited and transparent supply of Bitcoin was highlighted as an attractive feature in this regard.
XRP as an Alternative to SWIFT
The absence of ETH and BNB led to the firm noting that XRP is the second largest asset currently tracked in the framework, only behind Bitcoin. Notably, XRP makes up 4% of the combined market capitalization of all the assets tracked by the firm.
According to the Grayscale report, XRP is designed as an alternative to SWIFT due to its attractive features in terms of cross-border payments, offering fast transactions at lower costs than competitors.
The recent report from Grayscale has led to speculation that the firm might be considering resuming support for XRP amidst its efforts to transform the GBTC Trust to a spot BTC ETF. It should be noted that Grayscale previously held XRP in its GDLC product and XRP Trust. However, in January 2021, the company dissolved the XRP Trust and removed XRP from the GDLC vehicle in response to the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple. Despite the July 13 ruling declaring that XRP is not a security, Grayscale has not indicated any interest in resuming support for XRP since then.
This latest move by Grayscale to spotlight XRP underscores the ongoing debate and shifting landscape of the crypto market as it continues to evolve and adapt to regulatory changes and investor sentiment.
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