IBM fueled a Bitcoin and Stellar rally recently. On Monday, Big Blue announced that its Blockchain World Wire, a real-time global payments network for regulated financial institutions on the Stellar network, has expanded in more than 50 countries.
IBM’s Blockchain World Wire global payment network has a couple of advantages over conventional global network payment systems. One of them is that it can clear and settle global payments in real-time on the same network using stable coins and cryptocurrency, in addition to fiat currency.
Then, there’s the elimination of many layers of intermediaries that are error prone, costly and often times take several days to settle.
And there’s limited transparency. That’s especially important in emerging and frontier economies, where financial systems aren’t well developed; and a large mass of people have no access to financial institutions.
“We’ve created a new type of payment network designed to accelerate remittances and transform cross-border payments to facilitate the movement of money in countries that need it most, ” said Marie Wieck, General Manager, IBM Blockchain. “By creating a network where financial institutions support multiple digital assets, we expect to spur innovation and improve financial inclusion worldwide.”
IBM’s announcement added momentum to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency rally, which began last week. XLM gained 10% over the last seven days —see tables 1 and 2.
Table 1
7d Price Change For Major Cryptocurrencies
| Cryptocurrency | %7d |
| Bitcoin | 4.11 |
| Ethereum | 4.36 |
| XRP | 2.94 |
| XLM | 10.00 |
Source: Coinmarketcap.com 3/19/19 at 3:10 a.m.
[Ed. note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment. Disclosure: I don’t own any Bitcoin.]
Table 2
Number of Cryptocurrencies That Advanced/Declined In The Top 100 Ranks
| Cryptocurrencies Advance/Decline | Number |
| Advance | 83 |
| Decline | 17 |
Source: Coinmarketcap.com 3/19/19 at 3:10 a.m.
This isn’t the first-time Bitcoin, Stellar, and other cryptocurrencies get a boost from IBM. Back in July, Big Blue announced a partnership with Stronghold a digital currency backed by US dollars traded on the Stellar Blockchain Network.
That was a new way for IBM to make a blockchain-based “stable coin” available to IBM clients; and monetize its new technologies.
This partnership was a significant step forward for cryptocurrencies. This is because instead of Stellar trying to compete with chartered financial institutions, they were able to include them in a productive way that is beneficial to all parties involved.
And that’s why XLM rallied more than 50%, following the announcement of Stronghold agreement back then.
Author: Panos Mourdoukoutas
Read more at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2019/03/19/bitcoin-and-stellar-get-another-boost-from-ibm/#63a10d372d80
