A Slideshare by Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and uploaded by Swift, “SWIFT LARC 2019 – Innovation in Latin America_BAML” from May 2019 recently surfaced online.

Per BAML’s GTS innovation program, the bank is involved in Participation Experimentation Consortium memberships, commercial letter of credit, and proof of concepts bank-to-bank, in the blockchain space.

The banks have completed a proof of Concept to demonstrate that smart contracts /blockchain can streamline end-to-end LC processing.

“Member of the RippleNet Advisory Board, which will oversee the creation and maintenance of Ripple payment transaction rules, formalized standards for activity using Ripple and other actions to support the implementation of Ripple payment capabilities.”

BofAML is evaluating blockchain and its commercialization through PoCs with banks, global corporations, and top-tier technology providers.

Source: SWIFTcommunity/swift-larc-2019-innovation-in-latin-americabaml

This is not the first time Bank of America is getting involved with Ripple. According to rppl.info the US bank has been using xCurrent since late 2016.

Earlier this year, there have been reports of Bank of America and Well Fargo sending representatives to engage Ripple leadership and hold a discussion on payments systems partnership.

https://twitter.com/XrpCenter/status/1144851210282967040

Seven Banks Join xCurrent Powered MoneyTap

In a separate event, Ripple’s partner Japan’s SBI Group has welcomed seven more banks including Cikubo, Towa, Toho, Ashiga, Fuckishima, and Shimane Banks that are investing in MoneyTap.

MoneyTap has till now 13 banks joining the platform within 12 months of its launch, which is powered by xCurrent, and does not use XRP.

What is new is the other end from settlement: the donor cohort among Brave users (we do *not* require user funding, we sake ad revshares to be given back by users) will include more options, including BCH, XRP, Dash, etc.

— BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) June 28, 2019

Ripple is enjoying a lot of developments, just recently it partnered with MoneyGram that XRP enthusiasts are really excited about.

As previously reported, MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes talked about how stated that xRapid and XRP are the “absolute right” to be used for the settlement services but xRapid is their current focus.

https://twitter.com/BearableR/status/1145086548708401152

XRP’s Time Coming?

The third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization of $17.7 billion, XRP is currently trading at $0.411 with 24 hours loss of 1.11 percent.

The first bout of jump XRP saw was in May when it went above $0.45 then again last week when it climbed as far as $0.496. Though, we have yet to take over the $0.50, the expectation for the digital asset to pump soon are high.

$XRP update:

I legitimately don't even wanna update my bearish altcoin posts anymore.
At this point even I feel bad. pic.twitter.com/oaLQUmTRdQ

— DonAlt (@CryptoDonAlt) June 29, 2019

Though analyst DonAlt is not feeling good about XRP, others seem to have some bullish predictions still left for the digital asset.

“Best chance for Ripple XRP alt season is after one more drop vs. BTC pairing. Then, moon time,” trader Eric Choe said.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see $XRP at $1.00+ soon

— moon (@MoonOverlord) June 29, 2019