Today the Ripple team officially announced Xpring (pronounced Spring). Xpring is a new initiative by Ripple that will invest in, incubate, acquire and provide grants to companies and projects run by proven entrepreneurs.
Every entrepreneur will use the native Ripple digital asset XRP and the XRP Ledger, the open-sourced, decentralized technology behind XRP, to “solve their customers’ problems in a transformative way.”
Ripple also announced they will be bringing on Ethan Beard as a Senior Vice President to lead Xpring and Ripple’s developer program. Before moving into an advisor role at several technology companies, Ethan served as Director of the Facebook Developer Network from 2009-2012, where he oversaw worldwide developer relations, operations and product marketing for the Facebook API.
“I love helping startups leverage new technologies and developments to grow. At Facebook, we saw companies in areas like gaming, music,, and news use our platform to become big businesses. Blockchain and digital assets have the ability to solve important problems and XRP – with its speed, scalability and demonstrated real-world use case – is a great tool for startups and entrepreneurs to build businesses around.”
As of today, Xpring has already offered support to:
- Scooter Braun, entertainment talent manager, entrepreneur, and founder of SB Projects, who is pursuing several endeavors that will use XRP to improve artists’ ability to monetize and manage their content.
- Stefan Thomas, inventor of the Interledger Protocol (ILP), creator of BitcoinJS, co-founder of TxtBear, who just launched a new venture Coil to use XRP and the Interledger Protocol (ILP) for various micropayments applications, such as facilitating “bite-sized” purchases of media.
- Thomas McLeod, serial entrepreneur, co-founder, and CEO of Omni, who will soon integrate XRP as a currency into Omni’s marketplace.
- Bart and Brad Stephens, co-founders of Blockchain Capital, who have the first fund to accept capital calls in digital assets with a focus on driving innovation in the blockchain sector.
“Blockchain technology and digital assets like XRP will provide artists with new distribution channels and revenue streams. This creates more space for artistic freedom, and I’m excited our team is among the first in the entertainment industry to lean into the blockchain movement. This is only the beginning as we will continue to build out more use cases for XRP. ”
