The irruption of Libra seems to have wakened up banking executives from their indifferent stance on the bitcoin and the crypto world. Although rumours of the new cryptocurrency have been spreading for months, it is now that the Libra group showed their hand that things start getting hot in the banking establishment.
Twitter is filled with threads about how the Libra could affect banking business.
One of them is this one, guessing that Libra’s announcement will essentially push banks to look for their own solution.
Facebook trying to push libra and essentially become a new banking system will urge big banks to adopt similar and competitive technologies.
Now which company has been working with the banks since 2012 to introduce crypto to global banking? Oh yeah, its @Ripple 🤪 #XRP
🚀💰🌙
— xrp mami (@xrp_mami) June 20, 2019
Two days later the same xrp mami account re-tweeted one commentary by Frank Chaparro, Director of News at TheBlock saying how Ripple (XRP) is getting a lot of attention after Facebook’s Libra announcement last Tuesday.
.@Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says Facebook Libra announcement has helped push forward some contracts it has in the works with other finserv companies: "This has been a call to action. This is going to be a record week for Ripple."
— Frank Chaparro (@fintechfrank) June 20, 2019
Other publication mentions that Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse is “Ecstatic” about Libra’s announcement.
I will send a case of champagne to David Marcus the guy who runs Libra,” Garlinghouse said of Facebook’s blockchain chief.
Source U·Today
But Ripple doesn’t want all cryptos put into the same “wallet”
“The industry has gone from illicit to speculation to utility—the entrance of huge tech and finance players speak to that change. But all digital assets should not be lumped together—you need to evaluate based on use case.” @bgarlinghouse at @FortuneMagazine’s #BrainstormFinance pic.twitter.com/NIbUgAT5Ed
— Ripple (@Ripple) June 20, 2019
A bit later, Frank Chaparro posted another tweet:
JUST IN! Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat says Facebook did not approach Citi (to his knowledge) about its new cryptocurrency Libra, but said if they were to "we would take a look at it." #FortuneBrainstorm
— Frank Chaparro (@fintechfrank) June 20, 2019
Also, other cryptocurrency projects are moving towards payment solutions. This post says that the Litecoin Foundation has launched a debit card solution in a three-way partnership with crypto exchange Bibox and blockchain startup Ternio. The aim is to allow users to spend their Litecoins online and physical stores around the globe. Cardholders will be able to use this card in every place accepting conventional credit cards.
The following weeks and months will be very busy for executives of big banking corporations. Other payment solutions and, also, PayPal competitors such as Skrill, Neteller, Google Wallet and Bitpay might join the dance, as well.
