Adding to the list of cryptocurrencies that users can buy or trade on its platform, Uphold has announced that it has added support for Ripple’s XRP currency. Already, users can exchange digital currencies such as bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash on Uphold, CoinDesk reported.
Uphold’s decision comes after the company conducted a Twitter poll that revealed Ripple was the digital currency voters most wanted added to the platform out of four choices. The other options were Monero, Stellar and Cardano. Ripple held 51 percent of the voting out of approximately 12,000 votes. Uphold has been working on integrating XRP for about a month.
“Generally, we have to find counterparties we can trade with, given our system, [since] we don’t have an internal orderbook,” Uphold Vice Chairman J.P. Thieriot told CoinDesk. “We have to create an integration with a third party. In the case of XRP, it’s an entirely new blockchain — it’s not like adding an ERC-20 token, which is relatively trivial for us.”
Through Uphold, XRP can be exchanged without fees or can be used in transactions. In addition to seven cryptocurrencies, the platform supports 23 fiat currencies and four precious metals.
The news comes a few weeks after Uphold announced in February that it acquired Cortex MCP. Through the deal, Uphold would acquire Cortex MCP’s patent portfolio. It would also start work on new IP solutions with an emphasis on authentication, tokenization and the blockchain.
“Cortex’s mobile-centric, closed-loop payment and secure tokenization solutions provide industry-leading technologies and security to our platform,” Uphold COO William Dennings said in the announcement. “It additionally brings new commercial offerings and opportunities to our enterprise division, Uphold Solutions.”
The acquisition allows Uphold to offer new payments capabilities that leverage both cryptocurrency and fiat assets. In addition, the deal allows for a new closed-loop payment platform expansion, building on Uphold’s remittance capabilities in Mexico, Latin America and other countries.
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