Ripple’s xRapid, which powers the cross-border payments system that multiple banks have now used, has won the distinction of being an honorable mention in the Fast Company World Changing Ideas 2019. More than 2000 entities submitted their projects for the consideration of the awards.
Ripple’s xRapid is honored in @FastCompany’s 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards for helping improve reliability and lower the cost of remittances in the developing world! https://t.co/7SFbyvt2Mg #FCWorldChangingIdeas pic.twitter.com/Xdm64r49vE
— Ripple (@Ripple) April 8, 2019
Interestingly, the product that did win under the category that Ripple’s xRapid was nominated under, “Developing world technologies”, was also a blockchain product, called BanQu. The latter is a solution for those living in extreme poverty to be able to create digital identities on the blockchain. The full list of winners, nominees, and honorable mentions under all categories can be viewed here.
Ripple’s products has been receiving positive responses from the banking industry, and several banks, including central banks, have been working with Ripple’s solutions to attain faster and cheaper cross border payments. The World Bank released a report that referred to Ripple’s pilot program along the US-Mexico corridor, which Ripple concluded saved parties 40-70% in terms of costs.
Ripple launched xRapid relatively recently, and the move has been taken to enthusiastically by financial entities. UK based remittance firm, Mercury FX, revealed that nearly $2 billion worth of remittance payments have been made through xRapid worldwide, an astonishing figure for a product so new.
xRapid allows entities to first convert their fiat currency into XRP, which can then be sent to the destination country at which point it can be converted into the particular local currency.
In other news for Ripple, the company has struck a deal with India’s IT consultancy firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), with the latter putting plans in place to use the RippleNet for its cross-border remittances.
The XRP army is of course pleased with the honor of being mentioned, and the distinction gives Ripple and its investors something to boast about as it indicates that entities across the world are most definitely interested in what Ripple has to offer.
