Remittance network Ripple plans to launch its xRapid payment network “within the next month,” head of regulatory relations for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East Sagar Sarbhai has told mainstream media.
Sarbhai: I’m ‘Confident’ About xRapid Launch
Speaking to CNBC in an interview published September 17, Sarbhai said he was “confident” the company would deliver on the timeframe for xRapid, which would ostensibly see cross-border settlements between different banks using the XRP token [coin_price coin=ripple].
“[xRapid] really is a mechanism to source liquidity real time,” he told the network.
We’ve been working on this product for the past two or three years and I am very confident that in the next […] month or so you will see some good news coming in where we launch the product live in production.
Crunch Time For CEO’s Usage Boast
The hint breathes life into Ripple’s roadmap after a troubled few months saw mixed messages from senior executives generate considerable negative press attention.
As Bitcoinist reported, CTO David Schwartz, in particular, had delivered curious claims about both Ripple as a company as well as its relationship to the XRP token.
In June, Schwartz stated that Ripple was “not a distributed ledger,” while last month appearing to U-turn on the concept, claiming XRP was “more decentralized” than both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Investors continue to count their losses after XRP plummeted in value from highs over $3.60 to its current value at around 28 cents.
While Schwartz additionally courted controversy by claiming banks had little appetite to use blockchain technology for settlements, CEO Brad Garlinghouse made bold forecasts about xRapid’s future popularity.
“I’ve publicly stated that by the end of this year I have every confidence that major banks will use xRapid as a liquidity tool,” he told CNBC in June.
You know, by the end of next year, I would certainly hope that we would see you know in the order of… dozens.
What do you think about Ripple releasing xRapid? Let us know in the comments below!
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