United States
United Kingdom
Ripple has announced that its xRapid platform is now ready for a commercial roll out. The software, which facilitates real-time settlement, makes use of XRP token in order to provide on-demand liquidity and increase the speed at which cross-border payments are processed.
Cory Johnson, Ripple’s chief marketing strategist has mentioned that xRapid will enter commercial phase in the next 3-4 months.
Johnson said
“We’ve seen several successful xRapid pilots already, and as we move the product from beta to production later this year, these exchange partners will allow us to provide financial institutions with the comfort and assurance that their payments will move seamlessly between different currencies.”
For the past six months, several companies worldwide have been piloting xRapid platform. Specifically, in a test involving payment transfer between the US and Mexico, Ripple stated that firms that used xRapid were able to save between 40% and 70% on the amount they would have otherwise paid to Forex brokers. The figures claimed by Ripple translate to $12 to $21 billion in savings every year.
Out of the 10 companies which have publicized the use of xRapid platform, three have agreed to implement the platform soon.
The list of companies which are testing xRapid are as follows
- MoneyGram
- Currencies Direct
- Mercury FX
- Western Union
- IDT
- Cambridge Global Payments
- Viamericas
Companies which have revealed its intention to deploy xRapid
- SBI Virtual Currencies
- Cuallix
- Zip Remit
Mercury FX, which tested the platform, stated that the speed offered by xRapid was “unbelievable.” Western Union is only firm which has contradicted positive reports about Ripple by saying that xRapid does not offer significant benefits in terms of costs savings.
Western Union’s claims were countered by Asheesh Birla, Ripple’s senior vice president of product. Birla said
“The thing with Western Union is they’re such a massive company that’s been around for longer than most payment companies out there. Really, for Western Union to take advantage of xRapid they would have to move all their volume over to something like xRapid because they already have fixed costs and optimized liquidity flows. So right now, we’ve reoriented our target customer on upstarts, payment providers. That’s, I think, our sweet spot, and that’s what we’re looking to bring into production as soon as possible.”
