• Ripple, the company behind the cryptocurrency XRP announced the acquisition of the Icelandic cryptocurrency exchange Algrim yesterday.
• The 6-person Icelandic team will play an important role in the development of Ripple’s on-demand liquidity products.

San Francisco-based Fintech company Ripple continues its expansion. The company announced in a blog post yesterday that Ripple has acquired Algrim, an Icelandic trading platform for cryptocurrencies. The crypto trading platform was founded two years ago and has been integrated into over 30 markets. The aim of the acquisition, however, is not to expand the cryptocurrency exchange, but rather to take over Algrim’s 6-man team. This team is supposed to play an “integral role” in the further development of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) products, in particular xRapid, which uses XRP for cross-border payments.

Last week, Ripple added eight engineers to its Xpring team. These engineers will lead the search for solutions for a decentralised financial system (DeFi) based on XRP. Both acquisitions demonstrate Ripple’s high ambitions and strong market dynamics to further expand and adapt the cryptocurrency XRP. According to the publication, Ripple is expanding its team “to keep pace with strong customer demand and market opportunities”.

Ripples expands worldwide

Ripple’s latest acquisition marks the beginning of a European expansion. In addition to London, Ripple currently has offices in San Francisco, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Mumbai and São Paulo. Iceland, where Algrim has its headquarters, is to become one of Ripple’s most important technical centres. In addition to the 6-person team, Ripple intends to attract more technical talent from the region. Christopher Kanaan, SVP of Engineering at Ripple explained (freely translated):

With built-in expertise in trading and exchanges, the addition of Algrim’s engineering talent to our team will be instrumental in continuing the momentum we’re already experiencing with On-Demand Liquidity. We’ve been committed to sourcing expert crypto and trading talent in key global markets since day one, and the acquisition of the Algrim engineering team is a successful example of doing just that.

Dadi Armannsson, CEO of Algrim, commented on the acquisition:

The decision to join the Ripple team was a natural fit — both companies share a vision to enable widespread adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology, which aligns directly with what we’ve been working towards for the past several years. We are big believers in XRP and the XRP Ledger, and eager to help build the future of payments at Ripple.

Impact on the XRP price

It’s hard to predict how much Ripple’s expansion news will impact the XRP price. In the long run, however, strengthening the XRP ecosystem may have a positive impact on the XRP price trend. In line with current market trends, the XRP price has risen 7.3 percent to USD 0.2567 over the past 24 hours. However, it remains to be seen whether this is a long-term trend or whether the downtrend that started at the beginning of the year will continue in the long run.