Ripple’s xRapid Goes Live, What Happens Now?

 Listen Here - https://soundcloud.com/cryptodaily/ripples-xrapid-goes-live-what-happens-now Yesterday saw the full launch of Ripple’s xRapid. We expected this to happen in the first few weeks of October, though perhaps the 2nd seemed to be a little ahead of our estimations. Either way, xRapid is now live and has been adopted by three major financial service providers - Mercury FX, Cuallix and Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit. According to CNBC, Asheesh Birla, the Senior Vice President of Product at Ripple has commented on the full xRapid release, stating: "I'm really excited to bring the product into the market at a time when there is a lot of skepticism about digital assets and their real use case. Here's something where we're finding a ton of value and providing a ton of value to our customers using digital assets to move money more efficiently." Simply put, not only are Ripple pushing their technology into the mainstream, by launching xRapid they are giving XRP a new use value as a digital asset, helping the world to see how XRP can be used to move money in a more efficient manner, hopefully in turn, inviting new investment into XRP and Ripple’s products. Up until recently, xRapid had been set in a testing phase and had been tested by the likes of Mercury FX, though Ripple have commented on a slight lack of interest from established banks in xRapid during testing. Financial service providers are keen on the technology, but as it stands, there are no major banks using xRapid, this is now likely to change with the product now live and working - established banks want established technologies, they don’t have time to test, they simply just want to pay for a service and receive it, therefore we can now expect that with xRapid finally live, banks could start to show an interest. According to Asheesh Birla, "Banks worldwide are not first adopters of the xRapid product, but we are seeing a lot of financial institutions in general and payment providers moving forward with that product. We have a lot of business with payment providers. In certain markets I think banks will move faster towards leveraging digital assets, and so it really depends on the regulation and the local market." Regulation and the normalisation of blockchain technologies will see banks adopt xRapid, that’s all the Ripple team are holding out for now. So, exactly who is using xRapid? Mercury FX are specialists in global currency, they have been testing xRapid for some time now, therefore full adoption of the live xRapid product by Mercury FX was always expected. According to Mercury FX: “Mercury FX is a hassle-free and cost-effective alternative to banks for receiving and sending international currencies. Whether you are a business making regular transactions or an individual buying an overseas property we will save you time and money. An account with Mercury FX means that clients can make payments to anywhere in the world – quickly, cheaply and securely. There is no need to maintain multiple expensive currency accounts, as you would need to using a bank, there’s just one account with global reach. And it’s free.” By leveraging xRapid, Mercury FX now have the capacity to make their already established service even better. Cuallix are also a financial service provider, though they specialise in credit payments processing, meaning as a company, they are focusing on the facilitation of loan payments, loan payments that will now be sent internationally via xRapid. They are a leading financial institution of SWIFT, MasterCard, UnionPay and now of course, Ripple. According to Cuallix: “Cuallix is ​​a financial institution with more than 25 years of history with operations in Mexico, United States and Hong Kong. We are focused in providing credit and payment processing solutions to individuals and companies, with products based on specific customer needs and digital content. We have a certified technology platform that allows us to offer online financial services, 24/7 and 365, in a multi-currency and customizable structure.” Finally, Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit, or Catalystcorp. They are a wholesale credit union so therefore provide financial services to other credit unions. With a customer base of around 1,400 customers, we can expect that involvement from Catalystcorp means that a lot of money is going to move through xRapid as a result of their adoption. According to Catalystcorp: “Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union is a wholesale cooperative financial institution that serves more than 1,400 member and client credit unions throughout the country. Catalyst Corporate provides its members with core financial services and back-office support, including payment solutions, liquidity, investment options and balance sheet management assistance.” It might only be live within three companies at the moment, but xRapid is sure to dominate the international payments sector over the next couple of years. It does look as if xRapid has got off to a slow start, though as momentum builds, the technology will expand, develop and grow. As a crypto investors, we just hope that this in turn will benefit XRP and that the native Ripple token is able to grow too. What happens next? xRapid hits the banks, when it does, it’ll be huge. References https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/01/ripple-xrp-cryptocurrency-product-xrapid-goes-live-for-first-time.html https://www.mercury-fx.com/about-us/what-we-do http://www.cuallix.com/en/ http://www.catalystcorp.org/about-us/overview?selfid=1&tid=1 https://coinstats.app googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1538128067916-0'); });