Ecommerce domain eGifter and humanitarian organization CARE have already announced their adoption of XRP for commerce and donations following the addition, BitPay said.
Cryptocurrency payment solution BitPay has added support for XRP to its wallet app on Tuesday, after first announcing its intent to do so in October 2019.
“BitPay continues to expand consumers’ ability to transact in the currency of their choice and give merchants new exposure to a large base of loyal XRP users intent on driving real-world adoption”, BitPay Chief Marketing Officer Bill Zielke said in a statement.
XRP joins fellow cryptos bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH) and ethereum (ETH) alongside several stablecoins as payment options. BitPay added support for ethereum in September.
“BitPay provides new and practical opportunities for the utility of digital assets”, Xpring Senior Vice President Ethan Beard said in a press release. “We hope to build upon this progress, to make it easy for everyone to integrate money into their apps. We’re excited to enable the use of XRP for everyday purchases, which benefits merchants and consumers alike.”
Mastercard, Binance X and Ripple’s Xpring Join the Blockchain Education Alliance
The Blockchain Education Alliance launched by blockchain accelerator MouseBelt has gained several noteworthy new members.
Ashlie Meredith, the university program director for MouseBelt Blockchain Accelerator, told Cointelegraph on Feb. 11 that the new members include payment processing behemoth Mastercard, the innovation arm of major crypto exchange Binance, Binance X, Ripple’s accelerator Xpring and cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin.
Smart contract platform NEO, internet-of-things startup IoTeX, blockchain security firm Quantstamp and big data blockchain service Constellation Labs also joined the alliance.
According to its official website, the Blockchain Education Alliance aims to support education “to ensure students receive the skills, connections, and knowledge necessary to contribute to the blockchain ecosystem.”
At its launch in October 2019, the alliance counted Stellar Development Foundation, Tron, Hedera, Icon, Ontology, Wanchain, Harmony One, Nervos, Orbs, LTO Network, Emurgo, Nem, and ETC Labs among its members.
In August 2019, MouseBelt launched a blockchain education initiative at three campuses in the University of California system.
Blockchain and crypto need education
The blockchain and cryptocurrency industry has long been suffering from the lack of a specialized workforce able to move the space forward. In late August 2019, Ripple’s head of social impact, Ken Weber, said that universities around the world should expand their education programs to offer blockchain and digital assets training courses.
Last month, Nikolai Mushegian, a former MakerDAO contributor and Carnegie Mellon alumnus committed 10,000 MKR – valued at just under $5.65 million at press time – to his alma mater to develop a research program for decentralized applications. In October 2019, a Master’s degree in blockchain and distributed ledger technology was launched at the University of Malta.
