Ripple acquires Icelandic trading firm to expand European operations

Blockchain payments network Ripple has acquired Icelandic cryptocurrency trading firm Algrim, according to an official announcement.

The aim is to expand the US-based company’s presence in Europe. The Icelandic team will be focusing on the development of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), which utilises XRP for production cross-border payments.

There are also plans to hire more engineers in Iceland as Ripple hopes it can become an emerging European hub for the company.

Christopher Kanaan, SVP of Engineering, said: “With built-in expertise in trading and exchanges, the addition of Algrim’s engineering talent to our team will be instrumental in continuing the momentum we’re already experiencing with On-Demand Liquidity”.

Kanaan continued: “We’ve been committed to sourcing expert crypto and trading talent in key global markets since day one, and the acquisition of the Algrim engineering team is a successful example of doing just that”.

The decision to bolster the engineering side of the company comes one week after Ripple swooped in to acquire eight more engineers by acquiring Logos.

Algrim CEO, Dadi Armannsson, also revealed his delight at the latest partnership by describing it as  a “natural fit”.

He added: “Both companies share a vision to enable widespread adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology, which aligns directly with what we’ve been working towards for the past several years. We are big believers in XRP and the XRP Ledger, and eager to help build the future of payments at Ripple.”

Despite making immeasurable progress from a fundamental standpoint, Ripple’s XRP token has suffered tremendously this year, falling from above $0.50 to $0.25.

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