Ripple is shining a light on public classrooms by donating $29 million in XRP, Ripple’s digital currency, to DonorsChoose.org. The donation is the largest ever in cryptocurrency, bridging the gap between sometimes arcane and complex blockchain projects with real-world needs.
Founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org is an online platform, similar to GoFundMe, where public school teachers ask for monetary help by posting classroom project requests. Anyone can make a charitable donation by contributing any amount to the project. With over three million supporters, the organization has funded 1,143,564 projects that have reached 27,697,821 students in the US.
Projects at DonorsChoose.org have attracted matching funds from corporate donors like Verizon and Pandora.
Ripple is a blockchain-based remittance network, settlement system and currency exchange to connect banks, businesses, payment providers and digital asset exchanges.
Although XRP is the third largest cryptocurrency, after Bitcoin and Ethereum, its network is the fastest, clocking high transaction speeds. Such speeds have made it attractive to banks around the world, including Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Santander, MoneyGram, Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and American Express, all of whom have been testing Ripple’s network.
At the same time, Ripple, which uses distributed ledger technology (DTL), challenges the status quo. Central banks have no clear agenda on how they will move forward with digital currency. They may opt to adopt DTL strategies to enhance their existing protocols for more efficient cross-border transactions or they’ll attempt to eliminate Ripple and similar cryptocurrencies in an effort to suppress the growing threat to their business model.
