The digital asset exchange Bitstamp announced that it will begin supporting two new trading pairs today, both using Ripple’s digital asset XRP. Starting on Monday, January 17, the exchange (one of the world’s leading exchanges of digital assets or cryptocurrency) will begin offering XRP/EUR and XRP/USD pairs for trade by users.
XRP is the digital token used by the Ripple Consensus Ledger; the token was created with the specific purpose of cross-border value transfer in mind. Ripple has used the token in tests with various banks and institutions such as the R3 consortium of banks, where XRP was used as the digital token of value in a trial for inter-bank cross-border transactions.
According to Ripple’s announcement of the news on the company’s blog, this will also provide the added benefit of introducing more liquidity into the Bitstamp exchange.
Said Miguel Vias, Head of XRP Markets at Ripple, on the company’s blog:
“The relationship with Bitstamp and launch of XRP volume incentives underscores our commitment to making XRP the institutional standard bearer for value transfer globally…XRP is uniquely capable of introducing more liquidity to exchanges to support global payment volume, especially in exotic corridors. Ripple’s adoption with banks puts XRP in pole position to become a global settlement asset, which translates to more liquidity for Bitstamp, and more value for institutional and individual investors.”
The XRP/USD and XRP/EUR trading pairs will be available for every region supported by Bitstamp—while the exchange is based in Luxembourg it also has offices in the U.S. and U.K., and is the only exchange of digital currency that is fully regulated in all 28 states currently in the European Union.
Naturally begun as a bitcoin exchange, Bitstamp presently offers users trades of bitcoin to both the U.S dollar and the Euro (as well as supporting EUR/USD trades). As Ripple’s digital token was designed with the singular purpose of exchanging value, its trade could provide interesting opportunities to banks, financial institutions, and other users of the service for cross-border payments—essentially the token can be utilized as a “bridge currency,” as stated by Bitstamp.
While full trading won’t begin until January 17 (only a week away, so users won’t have to wait too long), Bitstamp customers will have the ability to make XRP deposits and withdrawals starting tomorrow, January 11th.