Ripple Labs Awarded as Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 5, 2015) - Ripple Labs, the global leader in distributed ledger technology and supporters of the Ripple protocol, today announced that it was awarded as one of the World Economic Forum's "Technology Pioneers" for its innovative distributed ledger technology.

The Technology Pioneer award recognizes companies around the globe for their demonstrated ability to innovate groundbreaking technology and develop solutions with the potential to transform the future of business and society. This year, 49 technology companies were selected. Previous winners include: Airbnb, Dropbox, GitHub, Google, Nest Labs, Mozilla and Twitter.

Technology Pioneers 2016 gain access to the most influential and sought-after business and political network in the world, and are invited to attend the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum to be held in Davos, Switzerland from 20 to 23 January 2016.

"We are thrilled to be selected among the world's most innovative companies in technology and to participate in such a well-established community of technology leaders," said Ripple Labs co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen. "Our mission is to modernize payments infrastructure so money can move as easily, freely and transparently as information moves on the Internet today. We're pleased to know that many of the world's economic leaders share a desire to fulfill this vision."

"We're glad to see a distributed ledger company make it to the selection," says Fulvia Montresor, Head of Technology Pioneers at the World Economic Forum. "Ripple Labs is part of a group of entrepreneurs who are more aware of the crucial challenges of the world around them, and who are determined to do their part to solve those challenges with their company."

The award will be officially given at the ninth Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China on 9 to 11 September 2015.

The Technology Pioneers were selected from among hundreds of applicants by a selection committee of 68 academics, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and corporate executives. Notable members of the committee include Arianna Huffington (founder, Huffington Post) and Henry Blodget (editor-in-chief, Business Insider). The committee based its decisions on criteria including innovation, potential impact, working prototype, viability and leadership.

Ripple Labs supports the adoption of Ripple, a distributed ledger technology that connects the world's disparate financial networks to securely transfer funds in any currency in real time. Banks and payment networks use Ripple as an alternative to correspondent banking to facilitate straight-through processing with no reserve funding required. For more information about Ripple, please visit http://www.ripple.com. 

About the World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (http://www.weforum.org), based in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent organization committed to improving the state of the world. Funded by the contributions of 1,000 of the world's foremost corporations, the Forum acts in the spirit of entrepreneurship in the global public interest to further economic growth and social progress. The Forum serves its members and society by creating partnerships between and among business, political, intellectual and other leaders of society to define, discuss and advance key issues on the global agenda. Incorporated in 1971 as a foundation, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit, and is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. In 1995 the Forum was awarded NGO consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

About Ripple Labs

Ripple Labs is the global leader in distributed ledger technology. The team supports adoption of Ripple, a technology that powers the free and instant exchange of anything of value, and the creation of an Internet of Value (IoV).

Ripple Labs' team of more than 100 is comprised of deeply experienced cryptographers, security experts, distributed network developers, Silicon Valley and Wall Street veterans. They contribute code to the open-source software, as well as develop tools for and recruit financial institutions and payment networks to use Ripple. The team shepherds a movement to evolve finance so that payment systems are open, secure, constructive and globally inclusive.

About Ripple

Ripple is an Internet protocol that interconnects all the world's disparate financial systems to power the secure transfer of funds in any currency in real time -- it enables an Internet of Value (IoV). As settlement infrastructure, Ripple transforms and enhances today's financial systems. Ripple unlocks assets and provides access to payment systems for everyone, empowering the world to move value like information moves today. For more information about Ripple, please visit http://www.ripple.com.