- The popular XRP TipBot was about to be discontinued due to new laws in the Netherlands, but was rescued by a partnership with Uphold.
- Users of the XRP TipBot will need to create an account with Uphold in the coming days to continue using the service.
The founder of XRPL Labs, Wietse Wind, has announced that he will work with Uphold to keep the popular XRP TipBot alive. In an article on coil.com Wind explained that the XRP TipBot was about to be discontinued because a new draft law was passed in the Netherlands, in line with European Union regulations, which requires custodians of cryptocurrencies to register their companies.
According to Wind, the registration process and the associated time restrictions and exorbitant costs would have forced the developer to stop the XRP TipBot. To save the project, Wind contacted Uphold. Uphold is a digital money platform with more than 1.7 million customers worldwide and a transaction volume of almost 6 billion dollars so far. By using blockchain technology, Uphold offers its customers easy access to cryptocurrencies, national currencies, precious metals, yield/credit products and soon crypto-based debit cards.
Uphold integrates the XRP TipBot
The XRP TipBot started as a hobby project of Wind in 2017 and has since sent over 2.5 million XRP, with about one million transactions. Currently, the TipBot has 18,000 active users per month. Regarding the success of the project and the factors behind it, Wind stated:
One specific feature contributed greatly to this (relative, still a hobby project) success: the fact that anyone can be sent a Tip with just one message (Tweet/Post), without the recipient having to “setup” an account (at xrptipbot.com). Tip balance could just be forwarded using the same syntax, or a withdraw could be requested at xrptipbot.com.
Until now, the Netherlands was a perfect location for the XRP TipBot, as there were no special legal requirements for the secure custody of cryptocurrencies. As a result, Wind was able to store the smaller amounts of XRP in a hot wallet and waited until a stranger with a tip claimed the XRP with an on ledger withdrawal.
However, the new law in the Netherlands only provides for a six-month transitional period. In addition, according to Wind, the new regulations (KYC/AML) would have cost an estimated 25,000 euros. This was the end for the hobby project, as integration into the XUMM banking application, also developed by Wind, was not feasible. Because of this Wind decided to contact Uphold, from whom he immediately received overwhelming support to rescue the XRP TipBot:
The Uphold team went all out to help me. To allow the XRP TipBot to survive.
As a result of the partnership, XRP TipBot users will have to link their account with an account from Uphold in the next days to continue using the service. By linking their accounts, users will also have access to the wide range of Uphold services, including the conversion of Fiat currencies to crypto and vice versa. Regarding the next steps and a precise timetable for implementation, Wind explained:
I will soon provide more information on the migration, as I’m finishing the last lines of code. But I promise you that no one will have to part with a single drop of XRP, and the people at Uphold and I will make the migration as simple as a few clicks.
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