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First off, I would like to honor the Bryant family and mention those who lost their lives in the helicopter tragedy yesterday. I was shocked when I saw the news and it really effected my emotions throughout the evening and into today. Loss puts life into perspective, making us realize how petty we can act over the small things and completely miss the major things that really matter. I can't imagine the pain your family is experiencing. Praying for you all, even though you won't view this message.

-—

XRP is the #3 cryptocurrency by market cap as of January 2020. As far as I know, the digital asset and technology that Ripple has built around it, solves the most real-world problems to date in the space. To say that I am confident in the future of this asset is an understatement as there are too many facts to back up it's validity. The question you need to ask yourself is, will you choose to believe the naysayers' mud-slinging or your own fact-based research?

Have you ever seen the memes or GIFs circulating social media centered around the hashtag, goals? The ones that I have seen are #couplesgoals and #fitnessgoals, I'm sure there are others. I even saw a video where a fitness couple were doing exercises, then it would cut over to an average couple trying the same exercises which was quite comical. The average couple was having a tough time keeping up.

Here is an example a photo that I saw recently:

#couplegoals Source

It would be hard to imagine my wife and I achieving a feat such as this, but hey, I'm not ruling it out by any means (who am I kidding, this is how we celebrate once the kids are in bed for the night). Showcasing the meme above was to illustrate an important point which is this...

it is important to have goals, or a vision of where you want to end up in a specific area of your life.

Let's transition and talk about XRP. We know that today, the blazing fast digital asset is being used to help facilitate transactions by over 2 dozen customers around the world, and RippleNet is being used by over 300 customers globally. If you have been studying the blockchain space since pre-bull run season (December 2017), then you understand the importance of holding your assets, even during a bear market.

Have you ever thought about how much XRP you want to accumulate and how quickly you want to do it? The same way that one would have diet goals, relationship goals, and fitness goals, it is also important to know where you are headed as a retail investor in cryptocurrency. Right now, the price of XRP is under $0.25, which in my opinion is an excellent entry point, even for seasoned investors.

(I'm not a financial adviser, but if I was I'd be excited because I could further diversify my client's portfolios with a non-correlated asset class)

#XRPGOALS

When I think of XRP goals, a well-crafted chart comes to mind by none other than talented coding expert, Wietse Wind. The chart comes from a website of Wietse's called ledger.exposed, detailing the top 10% of accounts on the XRP Ledger calculated by their respective balances.

Note: Locked XRP in escrow by Ripple has been excluded from these statistics. Source

As you can see from the above chart, it would take a balance of equal to or greater than 2,738 XRP to claim a top 10% spot. If, right now, you have at least 2,738 XRP in 1 account, then congrats, your account has made into the top 10% of all existing accounts on the XRP Ledger.

What is your goal? Where would you ultimately like to end up in your crypto journey? Would you be happy to land in the top 10% and call it a day? Perhaps you'd be perfectly content with that number and that is great. Maybe you want to take it a step further and find yourself in the top 5% of accounts. That would mean you would need to accumulate a minimum of 10,000 XRP.

Again, these numbers aren't perfect. They only tell you the percentage of single accounts, not taking into consideration a person with 10 accounts each holding 5,000 XRP. Even so, looking at this chart gives you an idea of where you stand on the XRP totem pole. To find out a more precise idea of where you stand, visit this section of the website known as the richlist index.

Source

Can you imagine reaching the top 0.01% of accounts? If you look, that would mean accumulating a minimum of 16.9 million XRP. While it is a good idea to have a number in mind for your personal holdings, 16.9 million might be a bit out of reach, even for the wealthy. Dream big, but also drop a few reality sprinkles on that cupcake.

The amount of XRP you will want to own is going to depend on what you want to accomplish in life and what you see the potential value of XRP being years down the road. Your specific amount is also going to depend on how much cash you're willing to part with or how much time/energy you're willing to give in order to earn more assets.

So what's your number? No need to tell me, but keep it in your mind or jot it down on a post-it note. Stick it on your bedside table as a daily reminder of where you are headed as a retail investor. Again, XRP prices are ridiculously low in my opinion, just act with diligence and consistency to continually fill your bag week after week, month after month.

Noteworthy articles:

Ripple Pulse – Regulatory Clarity

First Non-Correlated Asset Class in 4 Centuries

Ripple Sets the Example for Retail Investors

Discover how much XRP I would like to accumulate...

Source

In a deep yet light-hearted conversation my wife and I were having the other day, I expressed to her in a loving tone that I wanted to see 2 things happen this year. The 2 events that I would like to witness over the next 11 months are: 1) buy a home and 2) go on vacation. Currently we are renting a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 800 sq. ft. upstairs portion of a home down the road from our church. We were happy when we initially moved in, but as our family continues to grow, the tiny space makes it increasingly difficult to function.

What type of home are we looking for? We aren't ready for our dream home just yet which leaves us with plenty of options for our starter home. We would like to transition into a move-in ready single-family with a minimum of 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, 2 living areas, a kitchen with an island, and a decent-sized back yard. To me, I don't worry about aesthetics such as cabinets and counter-tops because I focus more on the functionality of a home. My wife on the other hand prefers an updated look which is fine with me too.

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One item that I have wanted for many years and am not willing to compromise on is a hot tub. Hot tubs, in my opinion, provide the most relaxing, enjoyable experience a person could ask for. It's basically like sitting down inside Heaven as it washes over you with warm waves of liquid goodness. Ok, I'm getting over-excited now but you get the idea. Within the first 1 or 2 years after purchasing a home is when I would like to install a hot tub, preferably in an outdoor, enclosed patio area.

Speaking of hot tubs, here's a favorite photo of mine with my gorgeous wife in a hot tub on our anniversary cruise 10 years ago. We set sail for a week with our best friends' family, traveling down to the Bahamas and then Key West.

Aren't we the cutest couple? Ok, moving on...

Either before or after we purchase our home, I would like us all to go on a vacation. Some wouldn't consider a vacation as a life event, but to our family it would be. We haven't been on a family vacation in a long time and it would be super nice to have that time away to relax and enjoy some care-free moments together. Knowing me, I will probably bring my laptop along because I'll be inspired to document the trip with witty blog articles.

I'd even be happy with a weekend get away to be honest. Doesn't have to be a full-on, exotic vacation to Hawaii or anything. (but hey if it is, so be it!) What does my ideal vacation look like? Good food, comfortable beds, and good company. As long as the food tastes good, the beds don't leave us achy, and the people are friendly, I'm happy as a clam (I didn't know clams are happy creatures).

Real-life footage of me on our future vacation ;) Source

The next 11 months are going to be an adventure, who knows what is in store for our family. No matter what happens, God will direct us in the path He knows is best (which hopefully is a home and a vacation). Find out what additional life event may take place later this year in the subscriber bonus section...

3rd life event...

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What is commitment? What does it mean to you? What are you committed to in your life? Your job? Your family? Your faith? Your diet? Social media? Your business? Your hobbies? A bad habit? Your morning coffee? Making the world a better place? Or, let's be honest, how about just making it through the day? Sometimes the goal is to get to the end of the day without losing your mind.

The fact is, we are all committed to something whether we consciously realize it or not. Some of the things we commit to aren't necessarily healthy, while other commitments benefit us as well as the people in our lives. Sticking to a diet rich in fruits and vegetables will not only benefit you, but others as they witness your increased energy and positive attitude.

Last year, I committed to taking action and being chosen to attend Swell 2020 in London. I knew that if I put my head down and went to work, that eventually that work would be recognized and I would receive an invitation to the event. Meeting the Ripple team would further solidify my trust and belief in the company and also the digital asset space in general.

One of the challenges to being a retail investor in cryptocurrency is that you are oftentimes alienated from the rest of the community due to physical location. For instance, the closest person I know in the XRP community lives hours away which is an entire state over. I haven't met anyone else that lives in Ohio like I do. Twitter, Telegram, and Coil work as good communication tools for the short-term, meeting up in person works well for the long-term.

Is the commitment still in high gear to attend Swell this year? Absolutely. I recognize the power of live events because I have attended several in the past. Events change a person from the inside out, giving them a strong burst of excitement for today and hope for the future. The only way that myself, or anyone else will achieve great things, is through being committed no matter what happens along the way.

Oftentimes I will hear the line, “Life got in the way” so I couldn't do this or do that. What that person is really saying is, “I had priorities that were higher on the list than that particular commitment”. Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day.

The difference between those who get things done versus those that don't, is the way they prioritize their commitments.

In today's instant gratification society, people are used to getting what they want right away. Waiting can be difficult, especially if the desire for a particular goal is quite strong. In the waiting though is where character is built and where perseverance is cultivated. Important life traits such as these are not activated through instant gratification, but instead through long-term commitment.

Swell by Ripple is coming up later this year in London. I've never been out of the country besides Canada, so it would be a fun adventure to leave my comfort zone and arrive someplace new. Consider this the first Operation Swell 2020 update of the new year with more to come as the weeks progress. The constant stream of news and developments within the Ripple ecosystem are fascinating and continue to amaze.

Thank you for reading.

Related articles you may find interesting...

Operation Swell 2020 – The Beginning

Operation Swell 2020 – Update 1

Unraveling the Peanut Butter Manifesto

For XRP fans: A neat image to save on your phone or PC ...

What is Ripple Pulse?

Ripple Pulse is a unique and specialized article series composed by myself, Ken Melendez, housed on the Web-Monetized content platform, Coil.com. Ripple Pulse is in no way affiliated or endorsed by the company and is simply to be viewed as a source of entertainment for relevant news and legitimate information regarding the Ripple ecosystem. Any personal views or speculation contained in this series is strictly my opinion and is not to be taken as financial advice.

Who is Ripple?

Ripple is an enterprise-grade software company valued at $10B, partnering with corporate entities around the globe, improving the antiquated payment system, specifically cross-border settlement. Their mission is based around driving the Internet of Value, where money moves as efficiently as information does today. The company has been in existence since 2012 and has re-branded over the years from OpenCoin, to Ripple Labs, and now to simply Ripple.

Why is this important?

Discovering detailed information about the Ripple ecosystem matters because the company is solving one of the biggest problems in all of global finance, cross-border settlement. As the current settlement system stands, foreign accounts need to be pre-funded with large amounts of capital serving no other purpose than sitting there waiting for a transaction to go through which can take anywhere from 3-5 business days.

Ripple is working WITH central banks and regulators from multiple countries to solve the pain points of tied up capital, stone-age transaction times, and unnecessarily high transaction costs. The company has been hard at work for the past 8 years and shows no signs of slowing down.

Ripple is striving to put a dent in the universe, specifically within the payments realm, different than any other organization in the industry. Institutional and retail investors alike need to pay close attention to any and all developments occurring within the ecosystem to stay on the cutting-edge of this unprecedented phase in history.

**Pulse Highlights:
**

⦿ Davos 2020 Event

⦿ BitPay Announcement

⦿ **Coil Improvements
**

☕️ Dear reader,

The United States is on the brink... The bleeding edge of regulatory clarity. In fact, you could already argue that regulations already exist. Banks such as PNC and Bank of America have been operating under regulation since inception. Financial institutions such as MoneyGram and TransferGo follow their own particular set of regulations. Ripple provides software to these players in the finance industry and plays by the same rules set in place by regulators of each institution.

Ripple sells their tech stack to banks and is under the same regulatory framework as the customers they provide those services to. RippleNet, Ripple's flagship software, has 3 main components, one of them employing the digital asset, XRP. The area where regulation gets a bit tricky is the engagement with a cryptocurrency such as XRP to facilitate cross-border settlement transactions. Currently, there is a Ripple court case in review which will either deem XRP a security or not a security.

The problem with deeming XRP a security is that the XRP Ledger existed before Ripple was a company. Ripple was gifted the 50+ billion XRP to help grow the ecosystem and distribute the digital asset to expand its use cases. In addition, if Ripple closed its doors tomorrow, XRP would continue trading on hundreds of exchanges around the world. Owning XRP does not give the holder stock options in Ripple the company by any means which is what a security is meant to accomplish.

A lot of activity is happening this month including the Davos 2020 event hosted by the World Economic Forum. We will unpack important moments from the event as well as XRP news and community updates. Later on we will dive into recent happenings with Coil and also peer into the future with Xpring investments and the speculative potential of the market in the coming years. If you are a Coil subscriber, be sure to stick around to view the bonus content at the end.

On the Ripple Front

Davos 2020

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The World Economic Forum hosts an annual meeting in Davos-Klosters with the world's top leaders. Established in 1971, the WEF is an international organization for public-private cooperation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. A multitude of industry leaders from across the globe joined together for an event of epic proportions.

...the foremost creative force for engaging the world's top leaders in collaborative activities to shape the global, regional and industry agendas at the beginning of each year.

Source

The Ripple team was in attendance including CEO, Brad Garlinghouse and Head of Product, Asheesh Birla. Expectations were looming as Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank, was to give a speech centered around the current / future monetary policy changes. XRP holders anxiously awaited Lagarde to verbalize the words Ripple or XRP in her speech. She did not make any mention of those words during her visit to Davos.

Source

Possible Ripple IPO

During the conference, Head of Product at Ripple, Asheesh Birla, Tweeted a quote from CEO Brad Garlinghouse while he was on stage speaking on “Changing the Finance Industry from Within”.

Here is the quote which took the XRP community by surprise...

“In the next 12 months, you’ll see IPOs in the crypto/blockchain space. We’re not going to be the first and we’re not going to be the last, but I expect us to be on the leading side… it’s a natural evolution for our company.” @bgarlinghouse at #WEF20

This single quote has caused quite the stir on Twitter as Ripple supporters went back and forth on the topic. Some believe that it is a natural progression of a company while others see it as a warning sign. Time will tell what will ultimately happen over the next 12-24 months as the company progresses.

Source

Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin

Among the plethora of world leaders in Davos, Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the US Treasury, was in attendance. When Mnuchin was asked about cryptocurrencies on stage, this was how he responded...

"There are benefits to cross-border payment systems in lowering costs for consumers and businesses. We absolutely support companies working on this."

Then, in Brad's words from his tweet on January 21st, he states the following... “Critical to apply this pragmatism to US regulation.”

The Secretary of Treasury himself says that they absolutely support companies working to lower costs on cross-border payment systems which is what Ripple has been working on for years.

Source

WEF CBDC Policy-Maker Toolkit

The World Economic Forum published a new toolkit, or insight report, focused on Central Bank Digital Currencies, or CBDC's. The purpose of the toolkit is to provide a resource for central banks to decide whether or not they would like to move forward using their own CBDC, weighing the potential benefits with the risks involved.

Page 17 of the document (which can be found here http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_CBDC_Policymaker_Toolkit.pdf) addresses the digital payments ecosystem, showing a list of cryptocurrencies available today. The WEF makes specific mention of Ripple and XRP as shown highlighted below.

The fact that such a large, respected entity recognizes Ripple and XRP means that they have done their research and see XRP as a crypto-asset designed for inter-bank payments and settlements.

Source

MoneyGram Partnership

In a recent announcement this month by Times of Oman, a strategic partnership was formed between Ripple partner, MoneyGram, and Lulu Money, a cross-border remittance company located in the Asia-Pacific region focusing on non-banking finance in foreign exchange and global money transfers.

MoneyGram money transfers will now be available though...

an extensive network of Lulu Money branches, liaison offices, and 50,000+ trusted agents.

Source

Source

MoneyGram will be working alongside Lulu Money to help grow their customer base and create new digital products to help grow their reach, expanding financial inclusion to customers in the Asia-Pacific region. Ripple remains in partnership with MoneyGram to help reduce the cost and increase the speed of financial transactions as MoneyGram continues to expand into new regions such as Asia-Pacific.

XRP

XRP is the native digital asset born on the XRP Ledger, a piece of open-source software that serves as a secure database for any and all value transfers. XRP is known as the bridge-asset because of its use in cross-border settlement, exchanging one fiat currency to another in mere seconds.

Price Fluctuation

Despite the news surrounding XRP used in Ripple's product, On-Demand Liquidity, the price of XRP has remained fairly stagnant. Here is a chart showing the last month of price activity. We started at $0.19 on the 24th of December and we now are showing $0.22 as of the time of this article.

Source

As you can see, there were days when the price shot above $0.22 all the way up to $0.24 but then corrected back down. Right now, the markets are still not factoring in utility of each token. Over time, it is expected that the assets with true utility, or real-world use-cases, will rise to the top of the price charts.

BitPay Announcement

BitPay, a leading cryptocurrency service that instantly transforms crypto payments into cash, adds XRP to it's list of accepted cryptocurrencies. Merchants utilizing BitPay can now accept XRP as payment for goods and services. This is great news for the cryptocurrency space because it allows for yet another use-case to add to the list.

Source

The origin of the partnership between BitPay and Xpring, Ripple's open platform for developers, began in October of last year and is now coming to fruition. BitPay’s wallet users are now able to store, use, and send XRP in the BitPay wallet. The integration is a huge step forward towards broad acceptance of crypto payments across the world.

If you go now and update your BitPay app on your iPhone or Android, you will see an option on the home screen to “Start Using XRP Now”. Tap Add XRP Wallet to add it to your wallet collection.

Once the wallet is available, it will need funded with a minimum of 20 XRP sent to it from a separate account. After that it's good to go and can be used for trade.

Quarterly Report

Ripple releases a quarterly XRP transparency report to keep the public in the loop regarding recent activities. This month they released the Q4 report which dives into details on the company's XRP sales, volume, volatility, and escrow. ODL activity is also mentioned in the report.

A few takeaway items are as follows:

Source

1) Programmatic sales have come to a complete halt from $16M the previous quarter down to zero. Not to mention, OTC, or institutional direct sales, have witnessed an extreme decrease from $50M to $13M which is used to strategically help grow the XRP ecosystem.

2) Escrow activity: Ripple returned a full 1B XRP back into escrow during a particular month of the quarter. In total, the company returned 2.7B XRP back into escrow to use at a later date.

3) ODL Volume: On-Demand Liquidity transactions increased by 290% in Q4 compared to Q3. The number here is astounding as it proves how valuable and how in-demand digital assets, specifically XRP, is today to facilitate cross-border transactions.

View the full report here.

In the Community

XRP Arcade

Leonidas Hadjiloizou runs a site called xrparcade.com which is a one-stop-shop for all-things XRP. News, stats, markets, Ripple, the community, the list goes on. XRParcade is especially good for those who want to learn for the first time or to expand their existing knowledge of Ripple and XRP. Leonidas is continually adding new items to the site every day.

In fact, at the beginning of this year, Leonidas published the 2019 XRP Yearly Report. The report is an absolute monster in terms of depth and detail which had to have taken hours upon hours to compile together. If you want to see the best walk-through of everything that happened last year in the Ripple/XRP ecosystem all in one place, go here to view the report.

Hats off to Leonidas for doing an amazing job on that website. Also, if you would like to support him further, he has a Patreon group that he has put together for fans of his work. This group allows Leonidas to continue the work that he does day in and day out for the community.

Source

Digital Asset Insiders

A few prominent members of the XRP community decided to join forces last month and start their own Patreon group. Mr. B XRP, Digital Asset Investor, and Brad Kimes all traveled to events together last year and wanted to create something special. The entire goal behind the group was to give the community more access to them while also getting neat perks such as exclusive live interviews and ad-free videos.

Even though the initial announcement of the group was misconstrued by many community members and caused a lot of controversy, Digital Asset Insiders remains a success. No one in the group has “insider information”, but was simply the name that was chosen for the group. Mr. B, DAI, and Brad Kimes all are providing members with quality perks and resources to help them along their digital asset journeys.

The group is completely optional as the content creators still do their free videos on YouTube each day. For more information, go to digitalassetinsiders.com.

One More Home

One More Home is a campaign through New Story Charity led by Ramon Ramentol, an XRP community member. The campaign provides homes for families in El Salvador who are in desperate need. The work that Ramon does in writing articles on Coil.com is to support this campaign.

As of right now, the campaign is about half-way funded and is still looking for supporters both inside and outside the community. XRP community members such as Patty B, Nordic Ann, Teena Hall, NixerFFM, and many others are doing what they can to help and to spread the word.

The One More Home initiative gives XRP a use-case that is unique, creating an avenue to give to charity though XRP donations. Ramon is passionate about the campaign as he wants to help provide as many homes as he can to the people of El Salvador. Reach out to Ramon with any questions you may have regarding this charity.

Source

Coil

Site update

Last month, Coil.com announced a new update to their website. The update expanded more on what Coil provides both to content creators as well as content consumers. The fresh look is more appealing and helps up and coming users get a better feel of the platform before they jump head first and sign up. Continual improvements to Coil helps to grow the Web Monetization movement that is taking place as we speak.

Source

Content Creators

Many quality content creators exist on Coil while more continue to pile in each day. The following creators have been doing a great job and deserve to be recognized.

XRP the Standard Productions

XRP the Standard Productions is absolutely knocking it out of the park. Specializing in satire, this creator is extremely talented at taking news stories and putting hilarious twists on them. Each article released is well-thought-out and their page has reached over 170 followers in a short amount of time. One minute the Ripple team is setting sail to Davos, the next minute the lawsuit is on Judge Judy. Go here to view the content.

Kass

Kassjan Smyczek, aka Kass, is an artist through and through. His work is absolutely breathtaking as each piece is carefully orchestrated in either digital art or traditional painting styles. Kass likes to live in the moment and is motivated by the creation process. When he is inspired to create, he takes action and doesn't look back. To view a full gallery of Kass' work, go here and be amazed.

Closing Remarks

So where does this all end up? Where do we stand on regulatory clarity regarding digital assets? It is evident that these technologies are being talked about at an institutional level. No longer is the crypto space being regarded as a place for criminals and drug dealers. Instead, it is now being viewed as the potential rails for the global financial system to run on. It is now being seen as the standard by which banks and financial institutions will build upon from here on out.

If you have been wondering about regulatory clarity, the evidence provided in this article should clear up any concerns you may have. Between the IPO coming in the future, and the Secretary of Treasury claiming to support companies solving real-world, cross-border payment problems, the proof is in the pudding. ✦

Related articles you may find interesting...

First Non-Correlated Asset Class in 4 Centuries

Ripple Sets the Example for Retail Investors

Patreon vs. Coil – Which is Better?

Find out what the future looks like moving into the new decade. Warning: Extremely bullish sentiment ahead...

It's coming. The dawn of a new era is upon us. Technology has taken over the land and has even infiltrated our homes. The latest gadgets, the newest phones, the smart home devices that tell the weather and funny jokes to moms, dads, even children. Automated appliances, app-controlled security systems, self-driving cars, digital dating services for every demographic is available today.

What has the last decade of innovation taught us? It's taught us that everything is going digital. Everything, including our money. What's the need for paper anymore? Paper is so old fashioned. In fact, many people don't even carry cash on them anymore since a large portion of transactions happen on a Visa or MasterCard. It is so much easier to whip out a piece of plastic than it is to rifle through dirty, tattered paper.

Time to talk about assets. What is an asset? An asset, from an investment perspective, is a unit of value, tangible or intangible, that can be converted into cash. Many assets have the potential to increase in value over time such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and real estate. As Robert Kiyosaki says in his book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, it is of great importance to acquire assets, not liabilities. Therein lies the key to escaping the rat race and becoming financially independent.

Now, unbeknownst to the majority of the world, a new asset class has arisen. An asset class the is not correlated to any other class that currently exists. Bonds were the last non-correlated asset class to come to town back in the 1600's. We now have a new class known as digital assets. Bitcoin was the first iteration of this new asset class back in 2009, proving the power of blockchain as a viable alternative to our current payment structures.

If you were to speak with a financial adviser today, (by the way, I am not one of them) they would tell you that it is a good idea to diversify your portfolio into many different asset classes to mitigate your risk. For example, if bonds do well one year and stocks do poorly, then at least you should have either broken even or made around 3-5% gains on your investment. Non-correlated is the key phrase here as these asset classes move independently of one another.

Take a moment to view this video by the Digital Asset Investor on YouTube who is a former financial adviser with Morgan Stanley. Here he tells a compelling story about a financial planner he was talking to who was a complete skeptic on digital assets, and how he quickly turned around and became a believer. It's fascinating...

A must watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPomZ74OEQ&list=PL7-hsMQKSF1c5ton26hF02F9fx_V4aBuT&index=10&t=0s

I enjoy hearing that story as it makes me bullish all over again. A wave of wealth is coming like no one has ever witnessed in history and it is happening right now before our very eyes. The digital asset market is only in it's infancy and can only go up from here. Are you prepared to ride the wave? Do your own research and come to your own conclusions. I know where my flag is planted.

Related articles you may find interesting...

Ripple Sets the Example for Retail Investors

Digital Assets: Go Long or Go Home

5 XRP Predictions for the New Decade

Is your home an asset or a liability? The answer may surprise you...

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For 8 years now, the Ripple team, located in all corners of the globe, has been working tirelessly to lay the foundation for the Internet of Value. To note, the SVP of Product, Asheesh Birla, stated a couple years ago that when they started building the infrastructure, their timing was early. The volume on exchanges was considerably lower than it is today, and utility was not a strong consideration by many, but that didn't stop them. Chris Larsen had a vision from the beginning which was to move value as quickly and seamlessly as information moves today.

When you jump onto a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, you don't stop to think which internet service provider your friend or colleague has, you simply send them an email or a text and it just works without a problem. Also, it doesn't matter if it's a weekend or after 5:00 in the afternoon, the data flows to the recipient instantly without question. The vision for the same or better experience to occur within the payments realm existed long before it was built. Ripple decided early on that they would focus their efforts on cross-border settlement since their technology could provide a practical solution to a real-world problem.

Day after day, week after week, the company makes strides forward in the direction of the vision which was set from the beginning. The vision to level the playing field, allowing payments to be accessible by large and small players alike, regardless of planetary location. Of course, as with any new endeavor, the company and their employees are constantly being judged and criticized from different angles, including attempts to spread misinformation, or FUD, around the company or the digital asset, XRP. Criticism doesn't stop Ripple from making progress because they are confident in what they are building.

Why is it important to look at what Ripple has been doing for the past 8 years? Why is it important to see the foundation that's being laid down day after day, month after month? It is important because we can learn from their example. We can study the actions they are taking and adopt that same mentality, applying it to our daily lives. As retail investors, it is in our best interest to apply our own unique set of talents and abilities towards building the Internet of Value in whatever way we can.

Are you a coder or an app developer? You can design an app utilizing Xpring's resources to integrate Interledger as the underlying payment infrastructure. You can create a crypto wallet that sends and receives XRP, running on top of the XRP Ledger. You could build a website that integrates the Web Monetization model. You could partner up with Wietse Wind and construct an awesome service like XRP Tip Bot.

Not into code but love creating works of art? The XRP community is in need of more bloggers, podcasters, and vloggers. Publishing work on Web-Monetized sites such as Coil and Cinnamon is a great way to build and support additional utility around Ripple technology. Ripple hires staff from all walks of life with different talents and abilities because that is what it takes to form a strong team. Even though we as retail investors are not on staff per se, we can still contribute to the ecosystem by playing a role in it's development.

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What Ripple is not doing... Ripple is not hating on other projects. Ripple is not spreading FUD about other cryptocurrencies. Ripple is not crying when a potential customer says no to their software. We can and should learn from the action that Ripple is NOT taking, in addition to the action they are taking. Ripple wants to see the digital asset ecosystem to expand and flourish, which fortunately does not involve putting other companies and projects down for one reason or another. The crypto community at large has somehow become tribalistic, thinking that their particular project is superior to others.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, has said himself in multiple interviews, that he supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others because he believes that all boats can and should rise as a result of a growing, healthy ecosystem. Does that mean he doesn't have a favorite? No, it simply means that he doesn't shun or rule out other digital assets, yet understands that each one can serve a particular purpose in the market. It's the market that ultimately decides which assets are the most useful for a particular use-case.

Ripple has a special interest in seeing the XRP ecosystem grow and be used to solve real-world problems. To use simple analogies as Garlinghouse does, a gold company would have a special interest in the betterment of gold. An oil company would have a special interest in the betterment of oil. The difference with Ripple is that they are educating governments and universities on the power of blockchain technology as a whole, not solely focused on their own open-sourced software.

Right now, as we are entering the 2020's, the age of utility is rearing it's head through the door. If there is anything that Ripple can set the example for, it is by far how to take action despite all odds or obstacles. Can we as a community do the same thing? Can we, a community of retail investors use our gifts and abilities to put a dent in the universe? I think so, but it will require consistent, committed action like Ripple deploys. It will require that long-term vision to pull us forward when motivation only pushes us so far.

The future does not rest in the hands of Ripple alone. The future rests in the hands of everyone who is invested in expanding the Internet of Value until XRP is the standard payment vehicle across the world. Even then, there will be work to be had well into the future as the technology continues to grow and evolve past what we ever thought was possible. We, as a community of retail investors, are to be the change we want to see in the world.

HODL by itself is great. HODL + Action is even better.

Related articles you may find interesting...

Digital Assets: Go Long or Go Home

5 XRP Predictions for the New Decade

2020 Will Yield the Highest Return on Investment

CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse Interviewed in New York...

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Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure and honor of participating in The Plan, a bi-weekly live stream hosted by Patricia C., along with co-hosts Lauren, Nick, and Adam. All four of these incredible individuals are members inside of the Content Builders Club, a support group for creators who post on Coil.com and other Web-Monetized sites. Twice a month I look forward to tuning into the stream, or at least catching the replay if I'm not available at the time.

The stream lasted about an hour and a half, covering topics around Web Monetization, Coil, and crypto in general. One thing I notice in every stream is the smiles and the laughter from each person involved. The atmosphere is light and inviting, creating an environment of fun, interesting discussion, and entertainment. In fact, Nick even busted out an outro performance he created specifically for The Plan which you'll need to experience to believe.

Take a look at the stream on YouTube. If you are a Coil subscriber, please watch the video on Patty's YouTube channel so she gets rewarded instead of myself. Start watching the video at minute marker 8:40 to get right into the introduction and discussion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DOHQ5769MA

I join the stream at minute marker 42:14, but I recommend watching the entire stream to get the most out of the experience. Also, while you are on Patty's channel, make sure to hit the like and subscribe to her channel as she puts out quality content that is both genuine and interesting. She is also on Cinnamon so follow her there as well.

A couple segments of the show that I thought were neat:

1) Favorite articles from the past fortnight

Before I jumped on, Patty, Lauren, Nick, and Adam went around the room, so to speak, and shared their favorite article they viewed since the last stream. Not only does this make the article's authors happy, but it brings more awareness to new and interesting content on Coil which will ultimately draw more readers. Taking a community-first approach is admirable and in my opinion, a highly-effective way to build a tight-knit culture.

2) Trivia game

Towards the end of the show, Nick announced the trivia game where a series of questions were asked to the audience. The first person to answer correctly in the chat wins a certain amount of XRP sent to their XRP Tip Bot account. The neat thing about this is that it helps get the audience engaged, serving as a fun reward for being on the stream. Make sure to tune in and see what questions Nick asked the audience and who got the answers correct.

It's great to see that the CBC, Content Builders Club, brought these 4 people together in a special way where they are now all great friends, even though they live so far apart. I have gotten to know each of them more over the past few months and can honestly call them family. I am looking forward to watching The Plan series evolve as 2020 unfolds.

Header image by: Adam Waring

View the lyrics and discover my thoughts on Nick's outro song...

The long-awaited moment finally arrived as monster trucks from across the land gathered together in Cleveland, Ohio for Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live. Our 3 year old son has been looking forward to it for a full 7 days, which in kid time is at least a year long. He would ask us when we were going at least 5 times a day, some days more.

Of course, the night before, it had snowed about 4 inches, causing the roads to be filled with slush and ice. We dropped our youngest at the grandparents house, then realized that we forgot 2 pair of over-ear sound blockers at home. We then turned around, backtracking our way to our house to retrieve them (again, in the slush and ice).

Once we arrived in Cleveland, we still had enough time to go down on the floor of the Wolstein Center to view the trucks and the drivers up close...

This is what it looked like before the show started. Anyone could bring their kids down and experience the trucks, as well as toy areas they could play in to keep them occupied.

This particular monster truck is the one that Jonah, our oldest son, enjoys the most. It definitely lives up to it's name, Tiger Shark.

This truck is called Hot Wheels Racing #1. The boys got handouts that listed each truck by name and photo. We had the option of getting them autographed by the drivers but the kids didn't really care much about that part. They were there for the trucks.

At one point before the show started, I had gotten them cotton candy. The price was $5 per bag, but I was able to talk the man into giving me 2 for $9. I know, I'm a haggler. (not really, just that one time)

Jonah loved his racing flag that we got him. You can still see the blue shine on his lips from the cotton candy. He ate at least half the bag.

Selfie of my wife and our two sons. Isn't she beautiful? I know, I definitely married up. To our surprise, our seats were front and center, right up close to the action.

A nice gentleman behind us offered to take a photo of our entire family. This is us next to the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Champions trophy.

It was a great time. I mean, half way through the show I was falling asleep, but it was still good. The kids had fun and that's all that matters. Plus, it was a nice bonding experience with our whole family (minus Elias back with the grandparents).

Precious moments with my boys...

Before you have me walk the plank, many of you know that I am a Coil supporter through and through. I spend many hours per week pouring into not only my own articles, but also into supporting the Content Builders Club creators who also blog on Coil. It has been a gratifying ride so far and I look forward to what is to come in the world of Web Monetization.

To address the elephant in the room, some members within the XRP community have spent time scratching their heads, wondering why certain creators don't use Coil and Cinnamon exclusively instead of using Patreon, a service that doesn't utilize the tech within XRP ecosystem. We will tackle that question head-on within the subscriber-only section below.

With that said, lets take a look at the features that each platform is focused on and pay a visit the pros and cons. Doing so will provide a better understanding of why certain content creators choose to use one platform or the other, or both at the same time. Each platform has it's own set of strengths and weaknesses, while some do indeed tend to overlap with one another.

Let's start with Patreon:

Patreon is a unique web service where individual creators can create their own portal within the site that is unique to them or to their business. The portal allows for “patrons” to subscribe to said creator's content either on a monthly basis or on a pay per view-type model. Creators can upload videos, podcasts, or blog content directly to their portal for subscribers to view.

Patreon is set up almost like a revolving Kickstarter campaign. People who pledge money to a particular creator, get exclusive benefits that aren't available anywhere else online such as behind-the-scenes footage or extended conversations that aren't published in the original video shoot or podcast.

Pros:

✪ Exclusivity

✪ Creator support

✪ Content mediums

✪ Help desk

✪ Profitability

Cons:

- Notifications

- Costs

- No Web Monetization

Patreon Summary:

Overall, Patreon is a useful service that was launched back in 2013. It provides creators a great avenue to place exclusive content while getting paid for their efforts. In addition, patrons feel good since they are supporting their favorite creators. The site is easy to use and navigate pages, and the content is open and works with a variety of mediums such as blogs, videos, and podcasts.

Patreon also has a number of support resources within their help center where they answer common questions and help creators learn how to start earning on their platform. One such resource is Patreon U, a central location where creators can gain pertinent knowledge regarding the platform and how the system works. The profit potential of using Patreon is quite high, especially if one is able to build up a substantial, loyal following.

In fact, many well-known artists and even companies today implement Patreon groups to not only connect on a deeper level with their audience, but also to generate more revenue to expand and further develop their businesses.

A few areas, in my opinion, where Patreon lacks are:

1.) The notification system. It could be a bit more robust and notify patrons on the desktop version when others like or comment on a thread they've previously engaged with. The phone app does a bit better with notifications but still could be improved upon.

2.) Costs can add up for patrons as the number of creator subscriptions increase. Costs can also add up for creators depending on which Patreon plan chosen as the platform holds onto a tiered percentage of earnings.

3.) The service does not utilize the proposed Web Monetization API which allows for creators to get paid as subscribers spend time viewing their content.

Moving on to Coil:

Coil is a revolutionary, Web Monetization provider set out to change the way creators get paid for their work. The platform was officially launched in May of 2019 and is led by CEO, Stefan Thomas. Coil specializes in providing an alternative way for creators to display their content with no intrusive advertisements and no pesky data collection tactics.

Coil uses a unique mix of Web Monetization and Interledger technology to pay creators as subscribers view their content. Subscribers get to enjoy a plethora of perks including game-feature unlocks and access to locked content that creators add to the end of their articles. Grant for the Web, a $100m initiative funded by Coil to spread Web Monetization, is going into effect over the next 5 years.

Pros:

✪ Beta testing

✪ Locked content feature

✪ No fee for creators

✪ Single-subscription model

✪ Instant payout

Cons:

- Short-term earnings

- Low traffic

- Beta testing

Coil summary:

Coil is an excellent platform to use, especially if you don't have your own blog and want a clean, dependable location to publish content. Beta testing was placed as both a pro AND a con because 1.) Coil is a new platform with a lot of room for creators to grow alongside it. 2.) With the product in beta, it is not robust and fully-featured just yet. It's more of a bare-bones, “get the job done” site right now.

Creators benefit with the ability to lock all or a portion of their content to garner audience curiosity, as well as not paying any fees back to Coil for their published work. Also, creators earn revenue instantly and don't have to wait for a payout. In other words, creators get paid in REAL TIME which is completely unprecedented in history.

Subscribers to Coil pay $5 per month and have access to all Web Monetization features including locked content. What makes Coil different from Patreon is that a single subscription gives access to all, whereas Patreon is compartmentalized into multiple subscriptions.

A couple downsides of using Coil, in my opinion, are:

1.) Short-term earnings. Unless a creator has many Coil-subscribed viewers pointing eyeballs at their content, they will get paid little in the short-term (unless you are chosen for the boost program which is always a possibility)

2.) Low traffic. A lot of the short-term earning issue is due to the low traffic issue. Since Coil is still in beta and not many creators know of it's existence, it doesn't pick up much traffic from search engines, leaving creators to promote their work more often via social media channels.

At the end of the day, there isn't one platform that is necessarily better than the other. It all depends on what your needs are for what you are trying to accomplish with your content and with your audience. Also, it does not have to be a mutually exclusive situation. Creators can and should be free to use both at the same time if they so choose. The “better” platform will be the one you prefer to use.

Patreon currently boasts more features as it has been around for a lot longer and has had more time to mature. Coil uses Web Monetization and pays creators instantly when subscribers view their content. Take a look at the pros and cons of each platform and make a decision based on your goals and aspirations as a creative on your amazing, exciting, and rewarding publishing journey.

Thank you for reading.

Related articles you may find interesting...

Web-Monetized Content: The Snowball Effect

5 XRP Predictions for the New Decade

How to Quickly Add Web Monetization to Your WordPress Blog

The XRP community conundrum...

Kevin Cage, prominent member of the XRP community known for creating informative, fact-based videos published on YouTube, sent out a tweet yesterday expressing his opinion of short-term gains on digital assets. I agreed with his statement, as I do quite often, and responded to the tweet with a small comment of my own as shown below.

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Kevin stated...

“The majority that chase short-term gains in this space are going to get REKT”. Rekt of course is slang term meaning defeated or destroyed. It is tough to make short-term gains in this space unless you are an experienced trader and actually know what you are doing. And even then, it requires a mix of good timing and luck. The response I left was this...

“Go long or go home”.

The ones who go after long-term gains are the ones who don't worry about the day-to-day fluctuations as much as the vision of the team and the problems that a particular asset solves. If new investors jump into this nascent market primarily for short-term gains, they are in for a world of pain and frustration. Not to say it couldn't happen, but again, it would require excellent timing combined with luck.

If one is looking at breaking into the industry bringing no investment experience whatsoever, they need to enter in with a futuristic mindset that isn't swayed by the opinions of others, but instead, one that is rooted deep within the fundamentals. Take a look into the underlying technology and compare it to other projects in the space to see if it ranks well or not. Study the people behind the asset to make sure adoption-driving action is taking place on a consistent basis.

Go long or go home. In other words, don't come looking for a quick buck. It is best to either stay in for the long term and ride this thing out, or go home and don't participate at all. The digital asset space is not for everyone, especially not for the faint of heart. If you can, sit back and study the people and the events occurring each week and then make an educated decision on how to move forward.

Those who have been around the digital asset space for more than a year or 2, and who have spent their personal time digging into the core fundamentals, are much more likely to stick around for years to come. This is because by now, these investors truly understand what is being built and can't see the future existing without the adoption of this groundbreaking, non-correlated asset class.

The phrase go hard or go home is the one most people have heard of which means to GO ALL IN at whatever it is you are doing, other wise pack up and go home. The phrase go long or go home is one that I use to refer to the specific mentality an investor must possess in order to be successful in the space long-term. Because let's face it, this space has a lot of maturing to do, which means more time is neccessary to grow the ecosystem.

Thank you for reading.

Take a look at the sign I saw yesterday at a Burger King drive-through...