• The QNB Group, Qatar’s largest financial institution, recently revealed how it would use Ripple (XRP-USD) and RippleNet to execute cross-border payments
• The financial services company first tested RippleNet in Turkey and now will roll out elsewhere across its network 
• Ripple continues to show why its utility is better than most cryptos

Ripple announced last October that it would partner with the QNB Group, Qatar’s largest financial institution, to provide its customers with cross-border payments using RippleNet, the enterprise blockchain solution. 

At first, it began with a pilot project at QNB Finansbank, the group’s Turkish subsidiary. It planned to scale up its remittance service through RippleNet. 

On March 29, QNB Group made another announcement demonstrating why investors shouldn’t lose faith in RippleNet and the XRP-USD coin. 

Utility is the name of the game when it comes to cryptocurrencies. The latest news suggests Ripple’s got it and then some. That’s great news if you bought XRP-USD for over a dollar and are waiting for it to recover. It would be even better news if you were waiting for the right entry point.

If not now, when. The people at RippleNet are building a legitimate business that banks and financial institutions rely on for cross-border payments.   

Ripple and Ripple together are accelerating global payments. That’s the definition of real-world utility.

XRP-USD

Ripple

$0.834666

Why Ripple Makes Sense As a Crypto Investment

On March 29, QNB Group unveiled its cross-border payment solutions at a two-day conference in Doha, Qatar. The financial services company had plenty to say about RippleNet and how it improves the cross-border payments experience for its customers.

“Being the first to market through RippleNet, QNB enhances cross-border payments and expand its remittance service across multiple countries in a quick succession. This partnership delivers near real-time payments, to provide a unique and differentiated experience for QNB’s customers,” QNB’s press release stated.

QNB is currently the most valuable bank brand in the Middle East and Africa, with operations in more than 31 countries serving approximately 20 million customers. Efficient payments across many borders are an international bank’s most vital need. 

Ripple and RippleNet do an excellent job filling it. It has hundreds of financial institutions as customers in more than 55 countries. 

Because RippleNet’s on-demand-liquidity service works through the XRP Ledger – it operates 24/7, allowing companies to make payments in the middle of the night, on the weekend, or whenever they need to – it can provide banks such as QNB with a cross-border and remittance payments solution that is faster and more cost-effective than traditional payment systems. 

That’s what I call utility.

The SEC Lawsuit’s Final Outcome

InvestorPlace’s Alex Sirois recently discussed the ongoing court case between the SEC and Ripple’s founders that began in 2020. The lawsuit filed by the regulatory body has been a significant headwind to XRP-USD moving higher. Since September 2021, the coin’s price has moved sideways. 

Sirois believes that the company could successfully get the judge on the case to forgo a trial and instead render a summary judgment that would put the situation to rest once and for all.

As Sirois suggests, a summary judgment in its favor would shoot XRP-USD much higher than 81 cents where it currently trades. Considering it was close to $2 a year ago, speculative investors have to be chomping at the fit for a conclusion to the case sooner rather than later. 

I wouldn’t begin to know where the case is in terms of a conclusion. I’m not that good at timing the market.

In February, I wrote about damning legal memos written by Ripple Labs’ lawyers, Perkins Coie LLP, who were asked in 2012 to present arguments for and against their proposed initial token offering.

The law firm argued that the offering could be regulated as securities or commodities in one of them. The SEC believes the founders knew this but went ahead with the offering that netted them hundreds of millions.

My colleague seems far more enthusiastic about the defendant’s case. I’m not so sure.

Should You Buy at Current Prices?

Despite the legal risk, I can’t help but feel the utility provided by RippleNet and XRP-USD makes Ripple a long-term buy. 

I also believe that the most likely outcome won’t be a crypto killer. Ripple will carry on regardless if they’re found guilty or not. 

In the meantime, the probability of XRP-USD falling below 58 cents seems remote. Therefore, the upside potential is much greater than the downside risk, tilting the risk-to-reward proposition in Ripple’s favor. 

I have yet to decide which cryptocurrency will be my first buy. I’m probably one of Canada’s only people who don’t own crypto. What can I say? I’m sitting on the fence. 

If you can afford to lose it all, 80 cents is probably an excellent entry point for everyone else. But, as my colleague suggests, a positive SEC outcome should send XRP-USD to the moon. 

On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.