In a recent development, Ripple, one of the fastest-growing companies in the cryptocurrency market, has announced the acquisition of the Icelandic crypto trading firm Algrim. With this deal, the company is planning to expand its presence in Europe through operations in Iceland.
Christopher Kanaan, SVP of Engineering, said:
With built-in expertise in trading and exchanges, the addition of Algrim’s engineering talent to our team will be instrumental in continuing the momentum we’re already experiencing with On-Demand Liquidity. We’ve been committed to sourcing expert crypto and trading talent in key global markets since day one, and the acquisition of the Algrim engineering team is a successful example of doing just that.”
Acquisition streak!
Last week, the cross-border payment platform also acquired Logos, a startup that develops payment solutions focused on speed and scalability. With Algrim’s acquisition, the company has added eight engineers to the Xpring team who will lead the charge in exploring solutions for a decentralized finance (DeFi) system built on XRP.
Ripple’s engineering hub
Notably, Iceland will serve as one of Ripple’s engineering hubs, and the company is planning to bring onboard more technical staff within the region. In addition to Iceland, the company also has a physical presence in London, New York, Singapore, Mumbai, São Paulo, and Sydney.
What is RippleNet?
Before getting into the process, let’s have a brief look at RippleNet. For the unknown, RippleNet is a network of institutional payment-providers like a financial institution and banks that use solutions developed by Ripple to provide a frictionless experience to send money globally.
How Algrim contribute to Ripple?
For the past two years, Algrim has developed its crypto trading platform integrating over 30 markets. In general, businesses that use RippleNet product suit can make cross-border payments between many countries. In this process, it swaps the original currency into XRP, sends it across the border, then swaps it again to the destination currency.
In the middle of this process, many businesses might need a large supply of XRP to transfer. Algrim led by seasoned industry executive Dadi Armannsson will help Ripple develop “On-Demand Liquidity,” the supply of XRP used for making payments with XRP.
Over 200 customers
To date, Ripple has over 200 customers on RippleNet, including London-based Xendpay, and a bunch that uses XRP in cross-border transactions, including Cuallix, Mercury FX and MoneyGram.
Algrim CEO Dadi Armannsson said:
The decision to join the Ripple team was a natural fit — both companies share a vision to enable widespread adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology, which aligns directly with what we’ve been working towards for the past several years. We are big believers in XRP and the XRP Ledger, and eager to help build the future of payments at Ripple.
Main credit: Ripple
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