Key Ripple Takeaways:
- Distributed ledger company Ripple Labs made a new move into the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa).
- MENA is gradually establishing a stronger presence in the cryptocurrency sector.
- Ripple’s native XRP did not budge and consolidated, flashing a bullish formation.
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – XRP, the native token of blockchain startup Ripple Labs, has been consolidating since mid-October, despite a new collaboration. As announced on Wednesday, Ripple scored a partnership with Al Ansari, a Dubai-based money transfer and foreign exchange company.
Al Ansari will utilize RippleNet Cloud to establish a remittance corridor between UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Malaysia and connect with Money Watch, a leading money transfer technology company.
In detail, remittance corridors are essentially the sum of remittances (non-commercial transfers of money by a foreign worker) sent between two specific countries.
The service will support transfers in Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) and plans to include the Brunei dollar (BND) and the Australian dollar (AUD) shortly.
Rashid Al Ansari, Al Ansari Exchange’s chief executive, commented on the partnership, calling it a “new benchmark” for the industry.
Blockchain technology has paved the way for seamless, transparent, and advanced methods to send remittances in real-time worldwide. Adopting this technology on the cloud via our partnership with Ripple and MoneyMatch is in line with our commitment to provide our customers with more flexible, faster, safer, and more innovative money transfer solutions.
asserted the CEO.
Related: Goodbye Ripple, Hello Stellar: MoneyGram partners with XRP competitor to offer blockchain-based payments.
UAE active in the crypto sector
In hindsight, the institutional acceptance of crypto finance is growing in the MENA region. For example, Saudi Arabia and UAE are two of the 14 countries in the pilot stage of launching CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies).
Additionally, the UAE government launched Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021 back in April. The latter is a program that aims to transition half of all government transactions onto the blockchain domain by the end of the year. Again, it seems that the new partnership with Ripple might help the program hit its benchmarks.
The Arab Emirates also aims at attracting more crypto-related companies into the region.
For example, Dubai’s governmental agency for market and financial infrastructure aid, DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre), launched Crypto Center in May 2021. The government-backed entity accommodates businesses operating in the blockchain and cryptographic sectors.
Ripple Lab’s decision to strengthen its UAE ties might bring a larger client base and higher revenue. However, its native XRP did not hurry to follow the positive developments and stalled, albeit hinting at a possible bullish break.
Related: Ripple CEO goes Rambo on SEC, says no settlement even if the court rules out XRP as security.
XRP uptrend ahead?
The XRP/USD pair traded at $1.13 in the Asian-Pacific session Thursday. The digital asset retested a resistance trendline it has been struggling with since Oct 10. In detail, XRP price action formed a pattern known as the Falling Wedge. The latter features two converging trendlines, both with a declining slope.
The Falling Wedge is a reversal pattern, i.e., it promises a bullish phase after the asset exhausts the formation. XRP might see more downward correction towards the support trendline before breaking out in a bullish streak if the prediction pan out.
The relative strength index (RSI; purple graph at the bottom) also looked strong despite the recent setback. In hindsight, the RSI is a momentum indicator that reflects the traders’ perception of an asset’s profitability. When the RSI is between 50 and 70, the traders could expect high yields and continue to invest.
Also read: 3 reasons why XRP looks poised to hit multi-month highs in Q4
Although XRP consolidated quarter-to-date, the token flashed hopeful signs to the XRP bulls while the native company expanded into new markets. Moreover, the MENA region could bring further gains to Ripple, considering its rising involvement in the crypto sector and interest in blockchain-based transactions.