The CEO of mainstream crypto and traditional asset platform eToro confirms the company is taking a hard look at adopting Ripple’s xRapid. Yoni Assia just paid a visit to Ripple’s headquarters to learn more about the cross-border payment solution that uses XRP to settle transactions.
Assia also met with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse at the Paris Fintech Forum to discuss a new partnership.
“I think as a fintech company it’s very important for us to foster relationships with other fintech companies. Obviously, we’re one of the largest trading platforms on XRP – so very interested in forming a relationship with Ripple Labs and understanding what we can do together.”
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is on the same page, saying he also wants to partner with Ripple and boost xRapid.
“We’re focused on launching more features right now, so we are working with a number of other partners. With xRapid, there’s nothing going on right now, but in the future we’ll definitely want to add them as a partner.”
Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings is also looking to join xRapid through its subsidiary SBI Virtual Currencies.
Ripple works with crypto exchanges to power xRapid, which is designed to be a legally compliant way for banks and financial institutions to utilize the speed and efficiency XRP.
The exchanges essentially accept fiat from a financial institution, convert it to XRP and send it to a corresponding crypto exchange in another country, where it’s converted back to fiat. The process is designed to settle from start to finish in a matter of minutes, with exposure to XRP lasting only seconds.
Ripple has already partnered with crypto exchanges Bittrex, Coins.ph, Bitso and Bitstamp.
Real-world use of xRapid is picking up steam. Currency exchange provider Mercury FX is up and running, giving enterprises and individuals the power to move money using XRP. The company says it just completed the first commercial xRapid payment between the UK and the Philippines, with one of its clients sending money around the world to pay for his honeymoon.