Real-time settlement platform xRapid is now commercially available, stated the official announcement from Ripple. xRapid is designed to speed up international payments and get rid of the need for a pre-funded nostro account.
xRapid is now live
Ripple’s xRapid purportedly sources liquidity from the digital currency XRP on global exchanges. This makes cross-border transactions cheaper and faster when compared to traditional methods.
The test phase of xRapid commenced in May 2018, with the platform seeing the participation of various financial institutions and payment providers, including MercuryFX and Cuallix. The participants in the test stated that they were able to save around 40-70 percent and reported improved speed. xRapid reportedly allowed them to complete transactions in “just over two minutes” in comparison to the average 2-3 days.
As of the moment, Cualix is managing the key remittance corridor from the US to Mexico. In addition, MercuryFX is planning to reportedly deploy xRapid in Europe to Mexico corridor. As per the statement from Ripple, Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union eyes the usage of xRapid to develop a new cross-border payment service.
Ripple Adoption Levels on the Rise
Earlier this August, Ripple partnered with three cryptocurrency exchanges. These included US.-based Bittrex, Mexican Bitso, and Philippine Coins.Ph. The partnership appears as a part of the initiative to build a “healthy” ecosystem of digital asset exchange.
The new partners will allow Ripple’s xRapid payment system to move between XRP, US dollars, Mexican and Philippine pesos. Ripple has explained the operational system as follows:
“A financial institution (FI) that has an account with Bittrex would initiate a payment in U.S. dollars via xRapid, which instantly converts into XRP on Bittrex. The payment amount in XRP is settled over the XRP Ledger, then Bitso, through its Mexican peso liquidity pool, instantly converts the XRP into fiat, which is then settled into the destination bank account.”
In September, AtoZ Markets reported that one of the top ten US banks, PNC, was supposedly planning to use RippleNet in order to process international payments for its customers, according to the official announcement from Ripple.
According to a number of online reports, Treasury Management, a particular PNC unit, will utilize Ripple’s Blockchain solution xCurrent in a bid to speed up foreign transactions that are held by the US commercial clients.
Ripple highlights that xCurrent will enable PNC business clients to receive payments for their invoices instantly, thus changing their approach to managing both accounts and their working capital. Asheesh Birla, Senior vice president for product management of Ripple, believes that the usage of xCurrent in the banking sector is the first step towards the acceptance of other Ripple products.
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