Ripple, the San Francisco-based fintech firm that has made tremendous headway in the global payments sector, has announced its social impact initiative “Ripple For Good” in a formal announcement.
The company committed over a $100 million to the program and is currently determining how the resources will be distributed.
This isn’t the company’s first foray into social impact initiatives, announcing its University Blockchain Research Initiative back in July, as it seeks to partner with the academic community to continue to support technical innovation in the blockchain sector.
Ripple seems to be well-placed for these initiatives, considering that its financial products help individuals in developing countries who might not otherwise have access to traditional financial institutions, and can economically empower both individuals and their communities.
Global Reach
The head of social impact for Ripple, Ken Weber, elaborated on the project, explaining that since the entire vision of the company was based on the fact that new technologies can help society as a whole, “the benefits of these technologies should reach as many people as possible”. This commitment to educate and empower those individuals who traditionally have been financially excluded from society builds upon the groundwork laid RippleWorks, which Ripple For Good will be collaborating with.
RippleWorks has already made considerable progress since 2015, working on over 70 projects globally, and was founded by the co-founders of Ripple itself, Chris Larsen and Doug Galen.
Internet of Value
Ripple’s ultimate goal is to help execute a vision of the Internet of Value, where money is accessed and exchanged as easily as information is now thanks to the internet. Ripple believes that blockchain can do for finance what the internet did for information. This goal is undoubtedly an ambitious one, and will take considerable time, but Ripple to many seems to be leading the charge
