Ripple, the American blockchain heavy, is reportedly looking to make waves in Asia.
According to the Business Times (paywall), Ripple is set to expand its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. It plans to double its staff from 12 to 24 over the year, adding business development and partnership roles, and to broaden its range of operations beyond customer services.
“The demand here is significant, so it’s an easy decision for us to continue to invest in this market and make sure that we can… also seek out new customers, new partners and new ways that we can work with the market” said Eric van Miltenburg, senior vice-president of global operations Ripple.
The Asian market has become quite important to Ripple. The region houses roughly half of its over 200 customers, and given the interest regional banks have for blockchain, it has huge potential for them to create more.
The move comes shortly after Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative expanded to China and the Lion City. The initiative, which aims to “accelerate academic research, technical development and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments,” recently added the National University of Singapore and the Institute for Fintech Research, Tsinghua University, to its now 29-strong roster of global research partners. The $50 million initiative launched with 17 initial partners, including the University of Pennsylvania, the Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, and the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University.
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