The cryptocurrency market is currently sitting just above $210 billion this morning. While mainstream media is heavily focused on cannabis at the moment, blockchain companies are still making moves in the background. Today, we’ll take a closer look at Ripple (available on Binance) (XRP) and Litecoin (available on Coinbase) (LTC) and the latest advancements with the two projects.

Ripple (available on Binance) (XRP)

Ripple (available on Binance) and XRP are often confused as the same and are often grouped togETHer because what Ripple (available on Binance) the company does ultimately affects/influences the price of XRP.

Less than a month ago, Ripple (available on Binance) revamped its website to solely focus on Ripple (available on Binance)Net. Ripple (available on Binance)Net has just expanded its xRapid platform that uses XRP as liquidity for financial institutions. While its xCurrent platform currently has over 100 banks and financial institutions signed up and testing its XRP-less platform, Ripple (available on Binance)’s goal is to eventually transition these institutions to Ripple (available on Binance)Net.

Ripple (available on Binance)Net lets financial institutions pre-fund liquidity with either fiat currency or the digital asset #XRP saving time and money. https://t.co/WwAOL1SRzz
— Ripple (available on Binance) (@Ripple (available on Binance)) October 12, 2018

Ripple (available on Binance)’s press release explained why using XRP is crucial for cross-border transactions:

“Pilots in the crucial U.S. to Mexico remittance corridor using XRP as a digital asset demonstrated savings of 40-70% compared to traditional costs. At the same time, it helped lower settlement times from two to three days to just over two minutes.”

At press time, XRP is currently trading at $0.465 a coin, up 0.34%, in 24 hours.