Ripplenews.tech, which then briefly went offline, first reported the anonymous tip just before 3 p.m. ET. Shortly after, the price of XRP surged 20% off its intraday lows. Western Union's stock closed up 5.9% after the report.

A spokesperson for Ripple declined to comment, saying the company "can't comment on rumor or speculation." Western Union also declined to comment. The two companies have previously worked together on a

ADVERTISEMENT

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

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Western Union, which transferred $80 billion between customers last year, would add to a growing list of companies using or planning to use Ripple's services to speed up the movement of money between people, business, and banks. A consortium of Japanese banks have tested the services, and Britain's Standard Chartered is a stakeholder in Ripple.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7scHLrJxnppdkr6p7xaKlmqaTmnyntc2apZydXae2sbzLnqpmsKKleqvBzKmqZqeeYsKvr86nnaKqnZqxbr7EqaarrF2ssrTAxKulZq2enryvec%2BlmKerXam8bsHSnmSirKNksKW4mJuoqQ%3D%3D