Bitcoin crushes Ripple and XRP; Becomes World Standard
Mark R. Phillips - University Head of Strategic Engagement
Public Relations, Communications, and Marketing Leader | Trusted Counsel to C-Suite | Air Force Vet | Digital Assets & Metaverse Enthusiast
As the year-long crypto winter draws to a close and the bulls awaken for spring, Bitcoin pulled a surprise move that that stunned the world as it promises to crush Ripple.
Generating headlines across the cryptoverse, Bitcoin stuns critics by announcing a tidal wave of major partnerships and alliances with government, non-government, and private organizations.
On the government front, Bitcoin announced that it had been selected by the 77th Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, as the lead partner in resetting the international reserve currency. This move away from the US Dollar will put Bitcoin front and center in international monetary policy. Many had believed that the US would embrace Ripple’s XRP as a crypto standard currency, because of the control that Russia and China had been able to exert over Bitcoin mining and holding. This proved to not be the case is it was revealed that, in fact, most Bitcoin is now held in the US and the major mining pools also are US-controlled.
XRP had also been widely seen as the darling of the international finance community, with both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank having specifically called out the benefits that Ripple’s systems (e.g., xRapid) and the XRP token could deliver for a global population. This had been seen as a key way to stimulate economies globally, and to provide banking services for the billions of people in developing countries who are currently unbanked.
In a surprising twist, both the IMF and the World Bank reversed course on the same day, retracting their previous praise for Ripple and XRP, while indicating that Bitcoin would be the way of the future. Christine LaGarde, Managing Director and Chairwoman of the IMF, said, “Even though we viewed XRP as the way to increase speed and decrease costs of international remittances, Bitcoin’s technological advances with the Lightning Network were clearly the so superior to Ripple’s technology that this decision was a no-brainer.”
Likewise, the World Bank’s CEO, Philippe Le Houerou, noted that Bitcoin emerged as the superior technology to enable the bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity. “Although Bitcoin had a history of being extremely energy intensive to support, that is now behind us as Bitcoin has emerged as the greenest cryptocurrency available,” Le Houerou stated, clearly referencing Bitcoin’s switch to quantum processing powered by cold fusion power cells that can be integrated into each mining rig. Not only can this new approach make Bitcoin environmentally friendly and sustainable, but it will allow each miner to sell the excess power generated back to the electric companies or governments managing the grid.
On the private sector side, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon was so impressed with Bitcoin’s massive technological advances that he immediately dumped the JPM coin, so he could focus on leveraging Bitcoin as an integral part of all institutional and retail investment strategies.
Similarly, Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, announced a dramatic change of strategy. He noted that the all Binance Coin (BNB) would immediately be swapped for Bitcoin, and that Bitcoin would become the only base pair for all trades on the exchange. Given that Binance has quickly become the world’s leading exchange, this is expected to have a domino effect that will result in Bitcoin becoming the only base token for all crypto exchanges worldwide.
All of this news has created a stunned silence at Ripple’s headquarters, as the team that was viewed as the most technologically advanced and most linked into the regulatory and business communities now tries to come to grips with this new reality. “I have no words,” said Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO. The normally outspoken champion of both Ripple and XRP, CTO David Schwartz, was seen quietly packing his office while a Bitcoin Uber waited outside. Former Ripple architect, Bob Way, posted to Twitter, saying, “I. Just. Can’t.”
As expected with news of this magnitude, members of the #XRParmy and #XRPcommunity were losing their minds. Hodor promised a full blog post, right after he finished swapping his XRP for Bitcoin. The Digital Asset Investor said, “I’m so glad I held on to my Bitcoin; now put your big boy pants on!” DM Logic called in from the wilds of Pittsburgh to urge everyone to be patient. Crypto Eri reported that this news was creating massive ripples across Japan. Even Rob Art, the perennially bearish bull, seemed to be the only XRP holder in a good mood, as he chimed in with, “Finally, I’ll be able to stuff my bags with XRP at $0.10!”
Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, just an enthusiast who is convinced that distributed ledger technology (DLT), blockchain, and related technologies (e.g., Holochain and Hedera Hashgraph) are the future of all financial transactions. Because of this, I am invested in cryptocurrencies, with a focus on XRP, TRX, and HOT. And, yes, I own some Bitcoin, so don’t hate on me.