Ripple punched above its weight class in 2017. We successfully launched our first blockchain conference, announced a new collaboration with the Gates Foundation and increased the number of RippleNet members to more than 100. And Ripple Insights became the official destination to learn about all that Ripple accomplished, attracting millions of readers over the year.

In fact, our readers were clamoring to learn more about new developments in our blockchain technology, upcoming events, as well as the lockup of 55 billion XRP.

We wanted to know what the most popular posts of the year were, so we analyzed site traffic to Ripple Insights and created a list of the top five posts for 2017. Here’s the list:

No. 5: ‘XRP Liquidity to Deepen with Listings on Six New Exchanges’

In our fifth most popular post on Insights, we announced that XRP was listed on six new exchanges.

The inclusion on these six exchanges helped to serve the growing global demand for XRP in emerging and significant currency corridors, as well as reduce the friction of global payments.

What a difference seven months can make. As of December 2017, XRP is listed on more than 50 exchanges — and counting.

The expansion to additional exchanges reinforces that XRP — the fastest and most scalable asset on the market —  is not only the best digital asset for payments, but is also the asset with the strongest use case and long-term value.

No. 4: ‘Federal Reserve Task Force Ripple Improves Speed Transparency Global Payments’

Our fourth most popular post explained our involvement in the Faster Payments Task Force — a committee created by the Federal Reserve to examine how blockchain technology can be used to improve global payment systems.

Established in 2015, the Fed’s task force recognized the need for faster, more secure, transparent cross-border payments and brought together 320 stakeholders from various positions across the financial and tech industries.

Our own Ryan Zagone, director of regulatory relations, was on the steering committee and provided input on emerging and blockchain technology.

We proved to be an invaluable partner to the Faster Payments Task Force. Ultimately, the task force published a progress report outlining five strategies for improving payments.

Many of the strategies align with our efforts to make cross-border payments faster, more transparent and cost-efficient.

No.3: ‘Announcing Swell by Ripple’

News about our first blockchain conference, Swell, was a big hit with our readers. In this post, we announced the dates, sessions, and speakers lined up for the two-day program in Toronto.

Our keynote speakers included Former Fed Chair Dr. Ben Bernanke and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.

Other panelists and speakers included payment experts and industry luminaries who we gathered to discuss industry trends, the future of blockchain, as well as the changing payment demands from retail and corporate customers.

What’s more, we live streamed each session for all of those that couldn’t attend.

Swell was a major success and there were several takeaways that attendees and viewers could use to inform their decision about choosing the right enterprise blockchain and digital assets.

No.2: ‘Ripple to Place 55 Billion XRP in Escrow to Ensure Certainty of Total XRP Supply’

To keep the digital asset community up-to-date on XRP and assuage any concerns about distribution, we published an explainer detailing our plans to place 55 billion XRP in escrow.

Here’s how we said the escrow would work: “We’ll use escrow to establish 55 contracts of 1 billion XRP each that will expire on the first day of every month from months zero to 54. As each contract expires, the XRP will become available for Ripple’s use. You can expect us to continue to use XRP for incentives to market makers who offer tighter spreads for payments and selling XRP to institutional investors.”

Whatever XRP goes unused at the end of the month will go back into the escrow queue.

The news of our escrow plans helped to reinforce trust in Ripple and XRP.

No. 1: ‘Ripple Escrows XRP for Supply Predictability’

Given that our second most popular post was about our escrow plans, it’s no surprise that the No.1 post of the year would be about the completion of the lockup of 55 billion XRP.

In our December 2017 post, we described how people can now verify the maximum amount of XRP that can enter the market. The lockup “eliminates any concern that Ripple could flood the market.”

What’s more — and this bears repeating — the lockup underscores our commitment to building XRP liquidity and a healthy, transparent market.

What was your favorite Ripple Insights post? Tweet us at @Ripple and use the hashtag #RippleInsightsFav

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