Ripple, the fintech giant behind the digital asset XRP and provider of enterprise blockchain solutions for payments has announced the addition of 13 new financial institutions to the company’s payment network, RippleNet.
The global payment network has now reached the milestone of servicing over 200 customers (financial institutions), which are from over 40 countries across 6 continents.
The 13 companies which were just recently added include:
- Euro Exim Bank — A service dealing with global trade finance instruments, such as Instant Letters of Credit, Corporate Bank Accounts, Letters of Credit, Stand-By Letters of Credit, International Wire Transfers, Bank Guarantees, Pre-paid Master Cards, and Trade Credit Lines.
- SendFriend — An online service that specializes in sending money from the US to the Philippines.
- JNFX — A London-based FOREX services firm.
- Financial Transaction Control Systems — A Stockholm-based company that builds financial infrastructure to change the way value moves.
- Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait — A retail and commercial bank located in Kuwait City.
- Transpaygo — A remittance service that gives SMEs the power to make payments within one business day.
- Bahrain Financing Company — A money transfer and currency exchange services company.
- ConnectPay — A Lithuania-based provider of financial services for rapidly-growing, online-focused businesses, which have been long under-served by mainstream banks.
- GMT Money — An Australian money transfer services company specializing in payments from Australia to India.
- WorldCom Finance — A customer-oriented company specializing in developing Internet platforms for instant money transfer and immediate bank deposits worldwide.
- Olympia Trust Company — A trust company that also provides foreign currency exchange services.
- Pontual — A Californian company that calls itself the #1 payment processor to Brazil.
- Banco Rendimento — A Brazilian bank.
5 New Companies Using Ripple’s xRapid Payments System
Out of these 13 newly added companies, JNFX, SendFriend, Transpaygo, FTCS, and Euro Exim Bank will use Ripple’s xRapid blockchain payments system to facilitate payments on behalf of their customers.
xRapid is Ripple’s cross-border payments solution that utilizes the digital asset, XRP. The system uses XRP to offer on-demand liquidity, which enables real-time cross-border payments while dramatically reducing costs.
xRapid is the payments system that XRP fans and hodlers are hoping will be adopted by institutions en masse. The idea is that if numerous large financial institutions continuously utilize XRP for payments, the digital asset will become widely adopted and see major increases in price.
The 5 companies listed above will leverage XRP for liquidity when sending cross-border payments, and can thus avoid the hassles of pre-funding accounts in different currencies. It also allows them to make faster and less-costly payments than with the traditional banking system.
Ripple’s xCurrent Payments System
As for the rest of the 13 newly added companies to RippleNet — and the majority of RippleNet companies, for that matter — they are not currently using XRP for liquidity. Most of the financial institutions on RippleNet are more interested in immediate settlement in destination currencies.
These companies are able to leverage Ripple’s blockchain technology and modern APIs for faster, lower costs, and more transparent payments than what traditional banking systems currently offer. The payments system that these companies are using is Ripple’s xCurrent payments solution.
This blockchain-based payments solution allows financial institutions to instantly settle cross-border payments with end-to-end tracking. Essentially, xCurrent allows banks to message each other in real-time to confirm payment details prior to and after transactions.
