Liquidity Hub (LH) has been making waves in the crypto community since Ripple Labs launched it. However, users of XRP are notably disappointed that it is not part of this new product as expected. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin have been chosen instead to provide seamless management of crypto liquidity for businesses.
The outrage among XRP users prompted Ripple’s chief legal officer (CLO), Stuart Alderoty to speak out on the issue. Through a Twitter thread, Alderoty clarified that XRP may become part of the product later. He also emphasized the difference between Liquidity Hub and the XRP-based product, On-Demand Liquidity (ODL).
Alderoty stated that Liquidity Hub is an institutional enterprise product that is not designed for retail use, and it offers a wider range of digital assets. He drew attention to the lack of liquidity for XRP in the US and mentioned that Ripple is keen to support XRP in LH when they can provide a good customer experience.
Moreover, the statement implies that Ripple could add the XRP token to Liquidity Hub if there is enough liquidity in the US market following the end of the legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which is the main reason for XRP’s non-existent liquidity in the US market after all exchanges and market makers in the country dropped XRP. Alderoty also made it clear that regulatory clarity in the US is essential to enterprise customers.
For those comparing ODL and LH, Alderoty explained that ODL has, for years, used XRP, and Ripple’s sales of XRP are all to ODL customers for use in the product which is thriving globally. Neil Hartner, a software developer at Ripple, also clarified that Liquidity Hub has another key difference from ODL, which is licensing requirements. With ODL, payments are handled between the sender and the receiver, and Ripple is not a counterparty. However, with LH, Ripple is in the middle.
At press time, XRP price stood at $0.5162, consolidating in the range between $0.4939 and $0.5317 (4-hour chart).
The XRP community still hopes that Ripple will eventually include XRP in Liquidity Hub, as they believe it would be an essential step in taking the asset to new heights. Ripple, however, is here to serve customer demands, and for their target LH customers – mainly institutions in the US – want access to a variety of tokens such as BTC, ETH, and stablecoins.
Moreover, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Alderoty, further emphasized that ODL, the XRP-based product, will continue to be in focus on the company. Ripple is undoubtedly a leader in cross-border payments through the use of ODL, and it will remain so.
