UK-based payments network Earthport has opened a distributed ledger gateway for bank clients to process real-time cross border payments via the Ripple protocol.
The partnership between Earthport and Ripple Labs was first announced in December last year and was billed as a convenient way for banks to access Ripple's distributed ledger protocol while overcoming compliance constraints. Using the gateway, banks are able to maintain their current technology and compliance regimes while providing clients with the benefits of fiction-free real-time payments.
Hank Uberoi, the CEO of Earthport, says: “We have experienced significant interest in this protocol and our clients are far along into the planning stage for initial testing.”
Earthport has so far secured cross-border processing deals with two of the top five banks globally, and four of the top 20 banks in the US, which use the network to connect with up to 60 countries globally.
Ripple Labs, which has seen a significant uptick in interest by top tier banks keen to gain insights into the potential of distributed ledgers, sees the partnership as a convenient way to expose its technology to a wider array of banking institutions.
Gareth Lodge, an analyst at Celent, comments: “Banks are actively exploring what opportunities decentralised ledger-based solutions could bring. The challenge is finding a way to harness the benefits, yet ensure the absolute essentials - security, compliance, resilience etc - are met, along with an understanding that payments involve far more than just a movement of value.”