Ripple's XRP jumps on anonymous report Western Union plans to use its services for money transfers

Ripple's XRP cryptocurrency is surging off previous intraday low prices, down just 4% Friday afternoon, following an anonymous and unconfirmed report that said Western Union planned to use its blockchain technology for money transfers.

Ripplenews.tech, which has since gone offline, first reported the news just before 3 p.m. ET. Shortly after, the price of XRP surged 20% off its intraday lows. Western Union's stock gained 5% on the news.

A spokesperson for Ripple declined to comment, saying the company "can't comment on rumor or speculation." Western Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but acknowledged Business Insider's inquiry.

Ripple's official Twitter account said earlier Friday that it had already signed three of the world's five largest money transfer firms:

The tweet appeared to be a response to claims from a New York Times journalist that he could not verify many of Ripple's customers.

Ripple, which created and maintains the blockchain for its XRP cryptocurrency, has been in the spotlight since December as the digital coin has skyrocketed over 37,000% in value. It is now the second-largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, with a market cap of more than $120 billion.

Such massive gains have put its co-founder in the spotlight. Chris Larsen, who co-founded Ripple Labs (the company later dropped the suffix) in 2012, owns 5.19 billion XRP tokens. At Friday's prices, his holdings could be worth over $14 billion - so long as he could find a way to sell.

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