Currencies Direct Ltd — a UK-based foreign exchange broker and international payment provider — has announced the successful completion of an international payment over Ripple’s xRapid platform. The transaction used Ripple’s scalable digital asset, XRP, and represents one of the first successful trials of a cryptocurrency by a mainstream financial services organization.
‘XRP Is a Game Changer’
The successful international payment using XRP represents a positive move for the cryptocurrency market’s third-largest coin by market capitalization.
The bank-friendly cryptocurrency, which currently has a total supply of 99,992,233,977 coins, has often been criticized for lacking use cases and being little more than the subject of speculative trading. Successful trials from foreign exchange brokers and international payment providers, such as Currencies Direct Ltd, illustrate the fact that XRP is well on its way to meeting its intended purposes — namely, as a fast and efficient value transfer solution for traditional financial services.
Currencies Direct’s trial itself featured multiple transfers between pre-screened organizations. The transfers were completed in a matter of seconds, as opposed to the upwards of five days such transfers traditionally take.
Currencies Direct’s Chief Product Officer, Brian Harris, stated:
Our trial with XRP was a resounding success. We’re currently assessing our next steps, but the evidence we’ve gathered indicates that the use of XRP is a game changer, making payments near-immediate and significantly improving service to our customers. Our goal is to offer the best possible service. We believe that utilizing cryptocurrencies in this way — as a transfer of value, rather than as a store of value — is the next logical step for our industry. It is, after all, the intended purpose of cryptocurrencies and we’re proud to be leveraging new technology to deliver the most convenient and seamless experience for our customers.
Harris also claimed:
This represents a revolutionary step for the industry and clearly shows how FinTech companies like Currencies Direct are helping to revolutionise the financial services sector. We’re proud to be early adopters of this technology.
Likewise, Asheesh Birla, Senior Vice President of Product at Ripple, didn’t refrain from boasting about xRapid and XRP. Birla explained:
The results speak for themselves — xRapid leverages XRP to transform the way money moves by significantly lowering the cost and time it takes to make a cross-border payment. xRapid offers an enhanced payments experience, while also allowing payment providers to gain a competitive advantage in the market.
At the time of this writing, Ripple (XRP) is currently trading at $0.619120, up 11.08 percent over the last 24 hours.
What do you think of xRapid and XRP? Do you think the coin itself will continue to see more bonafide use cases, or do you believe it will remain little more than the object of speculative investment? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
[Full disclosure: The author of this article holds Ripple (XRP).]