The future is looking rather bright for Ripple and XRP. Dozens of financial institutions have taken a keen interest in this project and all of its technology. One firm, Currencies Direct, recently completed an international transaction over the xRapid platform. This is another validation of the XRP asset in the financial sector.
xRapid Continues to Gain Recognition
It is evident the financial sector has high hopes for blockchain technology and digital assets. Developing proper solutions in this regard is not all that easy. It seems a lot of corporations and banks are looking at Ripple’s xRapid solution. This particular project offers a new liquidity solution when it comes to international payments due to its competitive FX rates and nearly instant transactions.
So far, xRapid has garnered a lot of attention in Asia. Even so, a lot of banks and financial institutions located elsewhere are paying attention to xRapid as well. The latest company to conduct a successful transaction is Currencies Direct. The company specializes in cross-border payments and is always looking for new liquidity solutions with competitive foreign exchange rates.
Its trial involving XRP has gotten a lot of attention. That is because it is one of the first times a mainstream financial services operator has conducted a cross-border transaction involving a digital asset. While this will not necessarily make XRP and similar currencies any less speculative or volatile in nature, it does highlight the fact that there are real-life use cases for all of these assets.
Currencies Direct CPO Brian Harris commented on the trial as follows:
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.
One of the main selling points of xRapid is that it allows financial service providers to connect directly with exchanges. Since this functionality works for both senders and recipients of funds, money can be transferred incredibly quickly. In most cases, transactions involving xRapid and XRP take less than two minutes to settle. Compared to more traditional solutions, that is a vast improvement.
Whether or not any new trials will be conducted involving xRapid remains a bit unclear. While Currencies Direct has successfully tested this technology in a live environment, there is no plan to commercialize this technology in the near future. The benefits provided by this solution will not be ignored by any means, but it will be some time before xRapid is commercially viable on a wider scale.
