Charlie Shrem has been involved in crypto longer than almost anyone. He likes to joke that he was one of the first ten people to ever hear about Bitcoin. He now hosts the crypto-focused podcast Untold Stories, which attempts to chronicle the history of crypto through the eyes and experiences of its most influential players. Cointelegraph’s most recent live Q&A gave the audience the opportunity to directly question Shrem about crypto, his past, and anything in between. The topics ranged from XRP, DApps, and stablecoins to his time spent in prison. Shrem revealed how he first heard about Bitcoin, who …

Ripple, the company associated with the XRP cryptocurrency, had a closed-door meeting with the central bank of Brazil on May 30 to discuss “institutional matters”. According to the financial institution’s website, its president Roberto Campos Neto had a video conference with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and three other representatives of the crypto firm. There’s little detail about the talk since it was closed to the media, although the website mentions “institutional matters” as the meeting’s general purpose. Ripple’s Brazil plans Ripple’s ambitious plans for Latin America and Brazil in particular surfaced in June last year, when the company launched a …

As Bitcoin (BTC) has been consolidating recently, many majors have been showing strength with double-digit movements. For instance, Ethereum’s Ether (ETH) rallied from $195 to $245, while Cardano (ADA) rallied with 65% in the recent week. However, some relatively large altcoins are lagging heavily, and two of them are XRP and Stellar Lumens (XLM), the third and 13th cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, respectively. So, what’s next for them? Crypto market daily performance. Source: Coin360 1 billion XRP being dumped on the markets every month One of the fundamental reasons for XRP to lag behind the other majors is the monthly …

Data from research firm Messari indicates that Ripple’s circulating supply (XRP) inflation rate is coming up to 20% for the latest financial year. Highest among the large-cap crypto assets, it is five times that of Bitcoin’s (BTC). Inflation vs. price Messari researcher Florent Moulin shared the information on Twitter stating that Bitcoin is up 20% since last year, but in contrast, XRP is down 47% —- alluding to some correlation between their price and circulating supply inflation rates. Moulin also compared how much of the max supply is in circulation, stating that Ripple has only 30% of their max supply …

Earlier this week, Tether (USDT) was making headlines for flippening XRP and taking the number three spot for largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Confidence in the leading stablecoin seems to have returned, despite Tether and Bitfinex still being embroiled in two ongoing court proceedings — one of which relates to an $850 million cash loan made by Tether to Bitfinex, secured against Bitfinex stock. Investors didn’t like the fact that their Tether was no longer backed one-to-one with dollars. But with United States banks now allowed to issue loans with zero reserve, were the shares actually a better option? Tether …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has urged United States regulators “to step up and lean into digital currencies” to avoid falling behind China in the field. In a tweet posted May 26, Garlinghouse warns that “remaining complacent is actually setting us back,” citing an article suggesting that China’s long-touted central bank digital currency (CBDC) has the potential to unseat the dollar as the global reserve currency. SWIFT is being outpaced by blockchain technology U.S. financial dominance currently relies on both the dollar’s status as global reserve currency, and of its control of the Society for Worldwide International Financial Transactions or SWIFT …

Tether (USDT) has overtaken XRP to become the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, as Ripple fails to gain adoption amongst retail investors. Top 10 Cryptocurrencies by Market Capitalization. Source: CoinMarketCap As for Ripple (XRP), it's been a race to the bottom, its market cap has collapsed from a high around $130 billion in January 2018 to the current one under $9 billion. At one point XRP was jockeying for the number two position with Ether (ETH), however, currently, the combined market cap of XRP and USDT is still $5 billion behind Ether. USDT vs. XRP market capitalization. Source: Cointelegraph, …

Digital payment platform Uphold has announced a partnership that allows Coil creators to be able to select the platform as their wallet provider to receive payments in over 50 currencies. Coil is a service that provides alternative methods for content producers to monetize their work online. “The ability to pay for [their] app subscriptions, news articles, or premium experiences with zero-clicks and in real time feels like the future,” said Robin O'Connell, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Uphold. The partnership with Coil will utilize the Interledger Protocol and allow creators to accept payments in more than 50 fiat and digital …

XRP TipBot, a service enabling users to transfer XRP to each other via comments on Twitter, Reddit and Discord, has been saved from the threat of extinction at the hands of new regulations in the Netherlands. In a May 14 blog post, developer Wietse Wind explained that the “personal hobby project” had been at risk due to a registration deadline and vastly increased costs in order to conform to recently passed Anti-Money Laundering (AML) legislation. However, the project has been saved, through a last-minute partnership with digital payment platform Uphold. Regulators and costs looming As Cointelegraph previously reported, the Dutch …

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has recognized the role of Ripple and XRP in cross-border transfers, a recent rule on remittance transfers shows. According to the May 11 paper, the CFPB — a bureau tasked with protecting U.S. consumers in the financial sector — has been researching new trends on the remittance market. Among one of those developments is “the continued growth and expanding partnerships” of digital asset companies like Ripple, the agency noted. The CFPB also highlighted that XRP can be used to effect settlement of cross-border money transfers, adding that the company’s suite of products could …

The number of Ethereum (ETH) longs has continued to surge after breaking into all-time highs at the end of March. Despite the broader crypto markets posting price gains alongside Bitcoin (BTC) in recent weeks, the number of open longs remains low for most crypto assets after plummeting during the mid-March crypto market crash. Ether longs dominate crypto markets Since breaking into record highs on Feb. 26, ETH/USD longs on major crypto exchange Bitfinex have increased by 170%, with the violent Black Thursday mid-March crash failing to drive even a modest retracement among Bitfinex’s bulls. Bitfinex ETH/USD Longs 1W September 2017 …

Ripple partner and investor, SBI Holdings, announced plans to integrate Ripple-powered settlements across ATMs in Japan. The news was revealed in SBI’s latest financial report, announcing a plan to integrate the Ripple-powered settlements platform MoneyTap with ATMs run by various banks across Japan. The integration is intended to provide consumers with easier access to funds at ATMs regardless of their banking affiliation. SBI to integrate Ripple tech across Japanese ATMs SBI claims that integrating MoneyTap will also allow banks to reduce the costs incurred through operating an ATMs, stating: “Currently, each bank has an ATM with its own bank app, …