Ripple Introduces Venture Capital Fund ‘Xpring’ To Support XRP Adoption

In a move to support companies that develop products and services for XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency with a market value of over $29 billion, San Francisco-based Ripple, the developers of XRP cryptocurrency has announced a new project called “Xpring.”

Presently, Ripple is going through a trial, or simply being used by several banks. However, the company hopes to change that with Xpring. Ripple will sponsor, incubate, acquire and provide grants to companies that use their digital asset XRP and XRP Ledger.

The Ripple team in an official statement noted:

“As a major contributor to the XRP Ledger codebase and a large holder of XRP, we often hear from entrepreneurs and developers that they’d like support in one form or another to help them with their XRP-related projects. As one of the few blockchain companies with traction for a non-speculative use case, we feel we’re uniquely positioned to support entrepreneurs in a meaningful way.”

Ripple has also gone further by bringing in Ethan Beard as a Senior Vice President to lead Xpring and Ripple’s developing program. In the past, Ethan has worked as a Director of the Facebook Developer Network from 2009-2012, where he lead worldwide developer relations, operations, and product marketing for the Facebook API. Prior to Facebook, he served as Director of Social Media and Director of New Business Development at Google.

“I love helping startups leverage new technologies and developments to grow. At Facebook, we saw companies in areas like gaming, music, and news uses our platform to become big businesses,” said Ethan Beard. “Blockchain and digital assets have the ability to solve important problems and XRP – with its speed, scalability and demonstrated real-world use case – is a great tool for startups and entrepreneurs to build businesses around.”

Earlier, Ripple has revealed other projects they have already funded. In April, they invested $25 Million in XRP to Blockchain Capital’s $150 Million VC Fund. Blockchain Capital now runs over $350 Million in asset including investments in companies like Coinbase, Circle, and Kraken.