A crypto enthusiast has begun his own campaign to get Ripple’s XRP token nominated as the 2020 Olympics official cryptocurrency.
It is not yet clear if the Tokyo games will accept cryptocurrency at the world’s hallmark sporting event but Ken Takahashi won’t let that stop him. His petition on Change.org, now ten months old, has so far gained the approval of 11,000 fellow Ripple enthusiasts.
Takahashi feels that the games would be an ideal location to test out cryptocurrency payments on a large scale, with visitors coming to the Olympics for all corners of the globe with a variety of different currencies. He noted:
“As tourists stream into the country, demand for the local currency skyrockets, causing long lines at currency exchanges, as seen at past events like Beijing 2008 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. Confusing exchange rates and language barriers further complicate the problem.”
It is true that such events can create a nightmare in terms of credit card fees, often costly ATM withdrawals and even some visitors using traveler’s checks for such trips away from home.
Takahashi selected XRP above others, he says, due to fast and cheap cross-border transactions. The Ripple-backed payment service MoneyTap has recently launched on the back of xRapid going live, with zero-fee domestic payments via Ripple’s xCurrent payment platform, but as yet this platform is not powered by XRP.
It is notable, however, that since the launch of new products the rate of signups to Takahashi’s XRP scheme has accelerated. It appears that there has also been more recent interest. Between Saturday, 6 October and Sunday, 7 October, the number of signatures on the petition rose by more than 1,000. From over 8,000, over the past few days, the petition has gained a further 3,000 votes.
The world’s third-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization has been pushing to gain greater stature, and if Ripple were to turn this petition into reality it would represent a major boost for the company and cryptocurrency as a whole. So far, there has been no official comment from Ripple regarding the Olympics petition.
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