Uphold, a San Francisco digital wallet, began offering XRP on Wednesday, expanding its exchange to include more than 30 cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. The $57.5 million funding round the compan
Uphold, a San Francisco digital wallet, began offering XRP on Wednesday, expanding its exchange to include more than 30 cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. The $57.5 million funding round the company closed in January, led by Greg Kidd's firm Hard Yaka, supported the integration. Uphold directed part of the funds toward launching Uphold Labs, a research division tasked with developing Ripple-focused initiatives and other projects.
XRP ranks third among cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, valued around $22 billion. The token serves as the native asset of the Ripple payment network, designed to handle remittances and cross-border transactions at reduced cost and increased speed. Uphold has moved more than $3 billion since launching in 2015, serving more than 12,000 members in 184 countries.
J.P. Thieriot, Uphold's vice chairman, said the addition came from member demand. "We evaluated a number of factors," Thieriot said. "XRP stands third in market capitalization, and our members, over 12,000 of them, voted to include XRP in our offering. XRP also moves faster and costs less than many other coins, making it ideal for remittances and the other transactions our members want to conduct."
Starting today, Uphold customers can buy XRP at zero cost for the first five million tokens. These can be exchanged against 23 national currencies, four precious metals, and seven cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and most recent addition Dash.
Thieriot expects Ripple adoption to accelerate through the year. "The demand for Ripple as a remittance solution will drive wider adoption in 2018," Thieriot said. "I also expect more mainstream integrations and support for Ripple over the next year."
Uphold will connect to the Ripple network within the week, enabling customers to deposit and withdraw XRP to the Ripple system. On future listings, Thieriot remained guarded. "We have some compelling moves in the works, including new currencies and other partnerships, but I can't share details at this moment," he said.
