Santander and American Express have become the latest high-profile clients to use Ripple for cross-border payments.
Ripple Cross-Border: Who Even Needs XRP?
In an announcement today, the institutions announced a partnership with the Blockchain payment network to initially send instant payments between US and UK business users of Amex’s FXIP platform.
UK Santander bank accounts will be able to receive the Ripple-based payments.
In today’s press release, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said:
We’re taking a huge step forward with American Express and Santander in solving the problems corporate customers experience with global payments. Transfers that used to take days will be completed in real-time, allowing money to move as fast as business today. It is just the beginning, and we look forward to growing this partnership to help other American Express FXIP customers.
The first incarnation of the solution will not actually use Ripple’s XRP token to transfer value, but rather simply leverage its Blockchain. XRP “will come into play later on in the evolutionary dynamics and the other players,” the company’s global head of strategic accounts told CNBC.
We're excited to announce @ AmericanExpress joined RippleNet! Instant payments are now live between the US – UK!https://t.co/nPSjUTmqUy
— Ripple (@Ripple) November 16, 2017
Closed-Door Meeting Sees Blockchain ‘Exploration’
XRP nonetheless jumped over 30% to $0.27 on the news, before correcting to $0.235.
“The technology we have developed, it separated a connection from the cryptocurrency or the token,” Garlinghouse clarified.
“So what that means is that a bank or non-bank like AMEX can use Ripple to connect and just exchange value from one fiat currency to another directly, without the need for any intermediate blockchain currency.”
Ripple’s fortunes have been mixed in recent months, with an ongoing lawsuit from R3 Consortium regarding a failed purchase agreement still dragging on.
This week also saw the Blockchain outfit hold a ‘secret’ meeting with top US central bank officials in which they “explored” the potential of Blockchain technology, serving to further shore up XRP prices.
“The Summit provided an opportunity to explore the full payments landscape: central banks’ domestic trials, Ripple’s growing cross-border network and interoperability across systems,” Garlinghouse reported in a separate post.
What do you think about Ripple’s new partnership? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Ripple
The Rundown
