Finance Monthly September 2019 Edition

47 www.finance-monthly.com • Father of smart contracts Ethereum is a major blockchain for smart contracts, DApps, and more than 80% of ICOs developed on its blockchain. Enterprise Ethereum Alliance has made partnerships with big-name companies like Microsoft, JP Morgan, Intel, and others, which are looking for Ethereum blockchain incorporation into their business structures. With such strong support, it’s unlikely for Ethereum to lose its leading position in a short-term horizon. • Key updates of Ethereum technology One of the most significant Ethereum hard forks called Constantinople has already happened in February 2019 though with a delay improved functionality, speed, transaction costs, miner issues of the network. According to its roadmap, instead of one large update, there will be a series of updates aiming to make Ethereum more scalable, efficient, and faster scheduled for 2019 and the years to come. Why is XRP at the forefront? 1,500 transactions per second is an impressive result, especially in comparison with the scalability of other cryptocurrencies or even with common money transfer systems, used by the banks. Upon that the cost of the instant transaction regardless of destination point is over 50% cut down. Initially, Ripple was focused on financial institutions and banks with prospects to become the major payment system. Therefore, not cryptocurrencies, but dominated transfer systems like SWIFT and VISA are its main rivals. Working on the improving transaction speed, the XRP development team reached the unparalleled scalability of 50,000 transactions per second outperforming VISA capacity twofold. Multiple banks and credit card companies are already collaborating with Ripple, hundreds of other bank institutions are looking for a partnership with it. Backed by the financial sector and constant increase of the user number, XRP will strengthen the position in the crypto market. FINANCIAL INNOVATION & FINTECH - CRYPTOCURRENCIES Ethereum’s road was rough throughout 2018 having lost 85%of its value. Despite this fact and despite the competition from other smart-contract based altcoins like NEO and EOS, Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency. XRP rounds out the top 3 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. XRP is one of the cheapest and fastest coins available today. Despite accusations from cryptocurrency enthusiast concerning its centralised character, XRP entrenches oneself in the top and has never claimed to be a decentralised one.