Ripple says it’s ready to roll out its long-awaited payment platform xRapid.
The company’s real-time settlement software is designed to use XRP to provide on-demand liquidity and increase the speed of cross-border payments.
According to Ripple’s chief marketing strategist Cory Johnson, xRapid will officially enter the production phase in the next four months.
“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.”
Ripple and its partners have been testing xRapid in a series of cross-border pilot tests around the globe. In one test between the US and Mexico, Ripple said financial institutions using xRapid saved 40-70% on what they would have typically paid foreign exchange brokers. That figure translates to $12-$21 billion in savings each year.
10 companies have publicly announced test pilots that utilize the platform, with three planning to fully implement xRapid.
Companies Testing xRapid
• IDT
Companies Using xRapid
• Cuallix
According to Mercury FX, its pilot test of xRapid revealed the “unbelievable” speed of XRP. However, Western Union reported that xRapid was “still too expensive” to improve its business model.
[the_ad id="42537"] [the_ad id="42536"]In response to Western Union’s findings, Ripple’s senior vice president of product Asheesh Birla announced a shift in strategy.
“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.”
Related: Ripple Reveals Future Plans for xRapid, XRP and RippleNet