Banking giant and Ripple partner SBI Holdings says it plans to use XRP to power remittances from Japan to Southeast Asia.
In a new report on the company’s performance and strategy, SBI says its remittance platform, SBI Remit, will utilize Ripple’s XRP-powered xRapid, which is now known as On-Demand Liquidity (ODL).
SBI Remit utilizes MoneyGram’s payments network. MoneyGram partnered with Ripple back in June and is utilizing ODL to send dollars into Mexico using XRP as a bridge currency.
The report also says that SBI Ripple Asia, another subsidiary of SBI Holdings, will ultimately cover nearly half of Ripple’s global payments network.
In early October, SBI launched MoneyTap, a mobile money transfer app that utilizes Ripple’s technology.
The app is available on both iOS and Android, and lets people send funds using phone numbers or QR codes.
Although SBI says it’s working to get dozens of Japanese banks on board, the app currently works with members of two domestic financial institutions: SBI Sumishin Net Bank and Suruga Bank.
SBI Holdings is one of the largest banks involved in cryptocurrency. The company recently launched crypto trading on its bank-owned crypto exchange VCTRADE.
SBI, a longtime Ripple partner, invested in the San Francisco startup back in 2016.
