Ripple has now been accepted by BitOasis, the United Arab Emirate's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, according to a company announcement.
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The Dubai-based exchange will enable XRP trading later this week.
we are rolling XRP soon! Stay tuned :)
— BitOasis (@bitoasis) December 28, 2017
The exchange said: "BitOasis users will be able to make XRP transactions beginning on Tuesday, January 30th,2018, with 0% fees during the introductory period.
We've decided to introduce XRP trading to meet the increased demand from our customers to add to the list of major Cryptocurrencies and digital assets offered on our platform...we're committed to providing our customers a secure way to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum and now, Ripple."
BitOasis describes itself as "the Middle East & North Africa's leading digital asset wallet and exchange". Established in 2014 as the first Bitcoin exchange platform in the MENA region, in February 2017 it became the first platform in the Middle East to expand its trading menu to include Ethereum. In May 2016 it received funding from Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG), Samih Toukan of Jabbar Group, Payfort, and angel investors from New York and Dubai.
In February of last year, it began allowing UAE citizens to buy Bitcoin with credit cards with a weekly limit of 2000 AED (approximately 500 USD), before extending this service to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman soon afterwards.
BitOasis is also a founding member of the Dubai Blockchain Council, a public-private initiative between local businesses, government agencies and startups, which includes IBM amongst its more than 30 members.
Ripple is a blockchain designed to act as a payment transfer system for institutions, and it has been adopted by hundreds of major banks worldwide, including Santander, American Express, and over a hundred banks in Japan. Even the conservative Bank of England, responsible for handling around 500 billion GBP on a daily basis, tested a proof of concept with the Ripple system.
This has made it somewhat resistant to the price fluctuations experienced by other cryptocurrencies, and led it to take Ethereum's number two spot in the cryptocurrency rankings more than once, although it is currently back in third place with a market cap of just over 50 billion USD.
Its success has made its founders exceedingly rich - something which has brought criticism due to the fact that a significant proportion of the pre-mined XRP tokens in the blockchain were pre-allotted to the core team.
