Ripple Launches Venture Capital Arm Xpring to Build XRP Ecosystem

San Francisco-based blockchain play Ripple has announced a new venture initiative, Xpring, aimed to foster growth of the XRP ecosystem. Ripple’s XRP is the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap, yet it has been unable to expand its use much beyond the banking industry. Xpring will be unleashed to fight that dynamic.

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Finding XRP Uses Beyond Banking and Finance

At present, XRP is being tested by a handful of financial institutions, but Ripple wants to turn that handful into a movement with the launch of Xpring.

Ripple, the creator of XRP, intends to “invest in, incubate, acquire and provide grants” to projects that develop products and services leveraging XRP and XRP Ledger. The idea is to attract entrepreneurs to the crypto’s ecosystem.

So far this year, Ripple’s already invested millions into on-demand storage play Omni and venture capital firm Blockchain Capital. Adding to that mix, the Xpring project has already provided support to Scooter Braun, founder of SB Projects, who aims to use XRP to “improve artists’ ability to monetize and manage their content”:

“Blockchain technology and digital assets like XRP will provide artists with new distribution channels and revenue streams. This creates more space for artistic freedom, and I’m excited our team is among the first in the entertainment industry to lean into the blockchain movement. This is only the beginning as we will continue to build out more use cases for XRP. ”

Putting the Pieces in Place

The Xpring project will be lead by Ethan Beard, former director of Facebook’s developer network, and self-described “internet business guy” Eric Van Miltenburg.

In reference to the launch of Xpring, Van Miltenburg tweeted:

Thrilled to announce Xpring – @Ripple supporting entrepreneurs building on the XRP Ledger! #xpringforward
Ripple is going after startups to build an ecosystem around its XRP cryptocurrency https://t.co/tgJ317DEDK via @techcrunch

— Eric van Miltenburg (@ericvanm) May 14, 2018

Beard, a Senior Vice President at Ripple, stated:

“I love helping startups leverage new technologies and developments to grow. At Facebook, we saw companies in areas like gaming, music, and news use our platform to become big businesses. Blockchain and digital assets have the ability to solve important problems and XRP – with it’s speed, scalability and demonstrated real-world use case – is a great tool for startups and entrepreneurs to build businesses around.”

Let’s see if the “if you build it, they will come” wisdom plays out here.

Crypto companies investing in startups: a good idea or bad idea for the ecoystem? Share your views in the comments section.

Images via Ripple, Finance Magnates

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