Despite legal issues plaguing Ripple, its continued development and progress do not seem to be slowing down at all. Not only has the XRP token been performing quite well as of late, but it also recently surpassed Binance Coin (BNB) to briefly become the world’s 3rd largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, right behind Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC). Since then, however, BNB has managed to take back the 3rd highest ranked position, but it is expected that XRP will continue to strive to become the 2nd biggest altcoin by market cap once again. As of the time of this writing, XRP is trading at $1.45.
In recent news, Ripple has now added Egypt’s National Bank (NBE) to its RippleNet network. This development comes at a time when Ripple has been expanding further into the MENA region, which is mostly comprised of countries from the Middle East as well as North Africa. Ripple had also previously expanded into Southeast Asia not too long ago via its 40% stake in Tranglo, a cross-border and payments specialist based in Malaysia.
Expansion into Egypt
As far as assets are concerned, the aforementioned bank in Egypt is, in fact, the largest in the country, having been founded in the year 1898. Through the partnership with Ripple, it will now be possible to facilitate various remittance inflows generated from the UAE (United Arab Emirates). This will be done via LuLu International Exchange.
Furthermore, this development is also of significance when we consider the fact that Egypt is the 6th biggest recipient of remittances in the entire world. In fact, it had been just last year when workers operating overseas sent home a total of approximately $24.4 billion in remittances.
Ripple dominates the MENA region
Ripple’s MENA and South Asia MD, Navin Gupta, had emphasized the importance of affordable as well as fast remittances when he stated that being able to receive and send money quickly and in a reliable as well as the affordable manner in this day and age is absolutely essential. He went on to say that Ripple is thus proud to partner with LuLu Exchange and NBE in a sustained effort to improve the area’s financial systems and infrastructure as well as be able to provide an effective cross-border payment system that is frictionless in nature for the country’s citizens.
In related news, Ripple had previously also aligned itself with Kuwait, Oman, and the UAE itself. It had even established a deal with the central bank of Saudi Arabia back in early 2018. This expansion into the MENA region could also be influenced by the ambiguity surrounding Ripple’s current legal status in the United States, and so it may be looking to set up its base elsewhere should things escalate.