Ripple has been on a bit of an XRP shifting mission in the last few weeks, moving close to 3 billion XRP tokens between various wallets and exchanges. In its latest transaction, Ripple moved 1 billion XRP tokens from its escrow wallet to an unknown wallet and included a rather mysterious message. Exactly who this fresh batch of XRP has been released to is not yet known, but the message could give us some clues – or it could simply be Brad Garlinghouse teasing an old friend.
Crawl… Walk… Run…
When you’re asked if you want to add a memo, note or reference with any financial transaction, there is always that temptation to write something silly. However, the guys over at Ripple have gotten rather creative and have left a cryptic message in their latest transaction. The transaction memo reads “Crawl… Walk… Run…” and given the fact that the 1 billion XRP movement was to an unknown wallet, we are still no closer to figuring out what it means – but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a guess.
A Possible New Partner
It’s no secret that Ripple is landing partners left, right, and center for its xCurrent and xRapid platforms. In order to power xRapid, clients need to have their own stash of XRP tokens owing to the fact they are used to create liquidity and power the transfer. There is a good chance that this massive batch of XRP has been sent to a new xRapid partner. Earlier this week Euro Exim Bank announced it was deploying xRapid, and the message could be in reference to this partnership. Due to the fact that Euro Exim Bank is the first bank on xRapid, it will have to crawl at first, then walk as more banks join, then it can run as the world’s largest banks all join up.
Is SWIFT Involved?
In a move straight out of the Kanye West playbook, SWIFT and Ripple had a rather public brawl over an alleged integration partnership between the two. First of all SWIFT branded Ripple as fake news, then Brad Garlinghouse trash talked SWIFT live on TV. Only a handful of months later, the two finally announce a deal, sending XRP shooting up by more than 10%. Could the mystery note be a nod to the well-orchestrated publicity game the pair played?
For now, the mystery message will remain just that – a mystery. As time passes and this unknown wallet becomes associated with a major partner, we will be able to test our theories. Until then, we will have to hope and create wild conspiracy theories of what exactly could be afoot.
