Ripple CEO Optimistic About Ripple Growth, More Banks Join XRP Network

In a recent interview with Fortune, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that Ripple is in the midst of gaining more adoption, as more and more banks have decided to make use of its technology.

This is the year the wheat will be separated from the chaff. Not many months ago, the media was saying no one will use XRP, which made for good skeptical headlines. Today, you can’t say that as people are starting to use XRapid because it’s better, faster and cheaper.

A total of 5 new partners have joined the network. One of these, the Euro Exim Bank, is expected to start using the XRP network for international transactions in the first quarter of 2019. The bank hopes to serve customers in 80 countries using Ripple’s technology.

Graham Bright, the bank’s head of compliance and operations, is hopeful of the technology’s potential:

There’s been a lot of talk around the markets about how blockchain technology can assist in trade finance. We’re interested in moving forward and creating a platform for payments for our clients who are in over 80 countries at the moment, making sure they have a smooth, frictionless way of paying local people.

The 4 others using XRP are JNFX, a London-based foreign exchange firm; SendFriend, a New York-based global remittance company; Transpaygo, a Vienna-based company for mobile payments; and the Financial Transaction Control Systems, a Stockholm-based company building financial infrastructure.

Could Ripple Grow Even More in 2019?

The Ripple project has had an excellent run in the past few years.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the project has secured over 200 customers worldwide, including those in countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait and Malaysia. Garlinghouse said that the team is ready to “flip the switch” and begin incorporating its XRP coffers, amounting to more than half of all supply, into operations.

If indeed Ripple can flip the switch, as they say, the involvement of several dozen major financial institutions could very well increase the prospects of the project — and perhaps even more convincingly cements its spot as the second most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap.