Ripple Swell 2018: Brad Garlinghouse talks xRapid, globalization and ‘Internet of Value’

Ripple’s two days Swell Conference 2018 commenced on Monday with panel discussions and interactions with luminaries such as former American President Bill Clinton, Gene Sperling, the National Economic President to Clinton and Obama, and the officials from Ripple itself, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

The CEO touched upon how the company was built on Chris Larsen’s vision and claimed that the main fulcrum of the organization was integrating the Internet of Value with the workings of the financial ecosystem. He stated:

“The internet of value is something that a lot of people don’t understand and that is Ripple’s biggest bet. One of our main goals has always been to become builders rather than the ‘disruptors’ that is talked about a lot in Silicon Valley. Being coined a disruptor is somewhat of a catnip to investors but in Ripple’s opinion we don’t always need disruption in the industry.”

Garlinghouse stated that Ripple was not trying to replace banks but was trying to build a system that has never been seen before. According to him, the products launched by the company would not only allow the faster and seamless developments of the blockchain industry but also the entire working ecosystem as well.

The Ripple official focused his discussion on the ‘three-legged piece’ that is required for globalization: data which is basically the internet, goods that need to be carried on the channel and money. According to him, the main problem that persists in the industry right now is the movement of the third factor, money. He bought in the analogy of the shipping industry which was revolutionized with the advent of containers and stated that Ripple was trying to bring about a similar revolution in moving money with its products.

He further added that there was a lot of hype in the blockchain space, a sector where the key aspect has to be enabling value to move like information and removing friction from global payments. He added that solving these cumbersome problems will increase the monetary flow of the economy, thereby opening up a lot of avenues to the general populous. Addressing the problems in the fiat sector, he elucidated on the details that hinder the transfer of value across different areas. He said:

“I have been in discussion with officials from a lot of major players and the stats that we obtained are stunning. We have found out that value transfer is staggeringly slow with an air rate of close to 6% that sometimes rises to 11%. The transactions are also really expensive with sources quoting an astronomical $10 trillion trapped in the banking sector.”

Brad Garlinghouse also announced the commercial availability of the much awaited xRapid, Ripple’s latest product that uses digital assets for cross-border transactions. It was even revealed that Ripple has partnered xRapid with three firms namely, Cuallix, Mercury fx, and Catalyst.