IDT Corporation and MercuryFX have signed up to trial Riple's xRapid real-time liqudity platform to settle retail remittances using virtual currency XRP.
While big banks continue to shy away from the use of XRP as a form of reserve currency in funds transfers, Ripple appears to have found a sweet spot for the adoption of xRapid in the $569 billion remittance market.
IDT and MercuryFX join MoneyGram and Cuallix, who have also committed to use XRP in their payment flows.
Alastair Constance, CEO and founder of Mercury FX, says: “Ripple, XRP and fiat currency fit hand in glove. What we’re doing together is realizing one of the best use cases for frictionless transactions, which is international settlement. xRapid allows us to drive down the cost of currency exchange and global settlement, making our customers more competitive and saving them tens of millions of dollars each year. Digital assets promise fast transaction speeds but XRP is far faster than all of them, including bitcoin. Cutting settlement times from hours and days to just three seconds or less will remove billions of dollars in unnecessary intermediary fees."
For IDT — a publicly traded telecommunications company, which facilitates online money transfers between individuals — the goal is to make sure their customers can send low-cost global payments.
“Our Boss Revolution international money transfer business routinely utilizes digital assets to generate liquidity in fiat currencies for our disbursement agents as part of our transaction settlement process,” says Alfredo O’Hagan, senior vice president of IDT’s consumer payments business. “We expect that xRapid will enable us to settle more transactions in real-time and at a lower cost.”
The latest signups provide a boost to Ripple's attempt to position XRP as an institutionally-backed alternative to fiat currencies.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, says: “Payment providers like IDT Corporation and MercuryFX are early movers because they understand what XRP can do for their business and customer experience. We’re excited to have them at the forefront of the Internet of Value.”
Sperately, Ripple has struck a deal with Credit Agricole to use its RippleNet messaging system to transfer currencies directly from customer smartphones. The test, which will last six months, is run by Crédit Agricole Payment Services. It will cover salary transfers in Swiss francs for some cross-border customers, between regional bank Crédit Agricole des Savoie and Swiss bank Crédit Agricole Next Bank.