SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 18, 2014) - Ripple Labs has been named one of 2014's 50 Smartest Companies in MIT Technology Review's annual list of the world's most innovative technology companies for its work in creating Ripple, an open-source, distributed payment protocol powering a new global value web.
The honorees are nominated by MIT Technology Review's editors, who look for companies that have demonstrated original and valuable technology over the last year, are bringing that technology to market at significant scale, and are clearly influencing their competitors. The companies on the list represent the disruptive innovations most likely to change our lives.
"Ripple Labs is showing why purely digital currencies can do novel things," said Jason Pontin, Editor in Chief and Publisher of MIT Technology Review. "Its technology makes it easier to exchange money across borders. That could stimulate international commerce and make it less expensive for overseas workers to send remittances back home to their families."
The Ripple payment protocol and math-based currency enables free and virtually instant payments with no chargebacks in any currency or unit of value -- including fiat or math-based currencies, mobile phone minutes, or even loyalty reward points. Ripple can be used for a wide range of applications, including merchant payments, money transfers, or remittances. Ripple has the potential to transform payments to work like communications -- global, instant and nearly free.
"We are proud to be recognized by MIT Technology Review for our work in building a new value web to complement today's information web," said Ripple Labs co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen. "Ripple connects today's disparate payment systems to create a truly global payment web for anything of value, unlocking new opportunities for developers and financial institutions."
Ripple Labs and the other honorees will be featured in the March/April edition of MIT Technology Review, published online today and available on newsstands worldwide starting March 4.
For more information about Ripple, please visit http://www.ripple.com.
About Ripple Labs
Ripple Labs developed the Ripple protocol, which makes transacting as easy as emailing. The San Francisco-based startup is funded by Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, IDG Capital Partners, FF Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, The Bitcoin Opportunity Fund and Vast Ventures.
The software company's team of 40 is comprised of world-famous cryptographers, security experts, distributed network developers, Silicon Valley and Wall Street veterans. They contribute code to and promote the Ripple protocol, create SDKs and build free consumer apps. The team shepherds a movement to evolve finance so that payment systems are open, secure, constructive and globally inclusive.
About Ripple
Ripple is an open-source, distributed payment protocol. It enables nearly free and instant payments to merchants, consumers and developers with no chargebacks and in any currency -- including dollars, yen, euros, and even Bitcoin. Ripple has the potential to transform payments to work like communications -- global, distributed, instant and free. Ripple is currently in beta. For more information about Ripple, please visit http://www.ripple.com.
About MIT Technology Review
MIT Technology Review leads the global conversation about technologies that matter. An independent media company owned by MIT, it produces publications read by millions of business leaders, innovators, and thought leaders around the globe, in six languages and on a variety of platforms. The company publishes MIT Technology Review, the world′s most respected technology magazine; daily news features, analysis, and opinion; and Business Reports, which explain how technologies are transforming industries. It produces live events such as the annual EmTech MIT, international EmTech conferences and Summits. The company's entrepreneurial community organization, MIT Enterprise Forum, hosts 400+ events a year around the world.
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