The crypto market for the most part remains at a stand still, spiraling sideways through a deep correction, much to the delight of hopeful investors around the globe.
For those with XRP in their bags, some good news was recently announced by Ripple Labs.
The highly anticipated xRapid has launched, and is now officially available for commercial use. It allows individuals and businesses to benefit from instant liquidity and low fees through use of Ripple’s native token, XRP, instead of waiting 2-3 days by traditional means.
2018 has brought a lot of momentum for the Ripple team, who’ve managed to sign an average of 2 production customers per week. They’ve expanded their RippleNet services further across the globe, growing their network across more than 40 countries at the time of writing.
Capitalizing on Established Momentum
Theoretically, xRapid is solving a massive global problem. Transferring money between borders has been the source of millions of headaches, and the process inevitably lightens wallets along the way. The ambitious nature of Ripple calls for a carefully laid out roadmap, and in hindsight, Ripple has paved a legitimate path for XRP.
Expanded XRP Use Case
Ripple Labs offers clients their services via RippleNet, which consists of 3 products: xVia, xCurrent, and xRapid.
Up until 1 week before the official launch of xRapid, the Ripple website listed each of their products individually within their main navigation menu. After their website’s update, mention of each individual product was heavily reduced, bringing RippleNet to the center of their website’s focus.
So, why is that important?
For investors, use-case is key. If a project’s native token isn’t solving problems and being used, it’s tough to justify investing in it. The center of XRP’s usage is built into xRapid, with the option to use XRP with xVia and xCurrent.
Although the website update didn’t introduce these facts, some of the barriers between their services have been softened. This could allow xRapid to spearhead its way into the remittance market, and bring all of RippleNet with it, while maximizing XRP usage.
xRapid Pilot Results and Partnerships
Months before the official launch, Ripple conducted pilot tests on xRapid with their partners, namely Western Union, MecuryFX, and Cuallix.
After running tests and deciphering the results, Western Union announced that xRapid didn’t save them any time or money. However, the tests were limited to 10 transactions between US dollars and Mexican pesos, which probably isn’t enough for any conclusive answers.
The results suggest that for now, xRapid might be a better fit for smaller institutions, which have already seen success in pilot testing. Cuallix, which focuses on remittances between Mexico and the United States, saw savings between 40% and 70% compared to traditional means of transfer.
MercuryFX, which will deploy xRapid between Europe and Mexico, has also seen positive results in speed and cost-savings.
Alastair Constance, CEO and founder of MercuryFX, had this to say about their pilot testing results:
In pilot tests we saw the benefits of xRapid, and we’re excited to roll commercial payments out within the quarter. The time to replace slow, expensive payments architecture is now because the need for global access to smooth-flowing capital has never been so acute.
While news of xRapid’s official launch hasn’t caused any immediate surges in XRP’s price, it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the coming months as more institutions start using RippleNet.
