Ripple has two new XRP payments partners
IDT and MercuryFX will use xRapid to settle their retail remittances and corporate transactions.
After teaming with international currency transfers firm MoneyGram earlier this month, blockchain company Ripple has announced that IDT Corporation and MercuryFX will also pilot on-demand liquidity solution xRapid.
IDT is a global communications and payment services company, while MercuryFX is an international currency exchange platform. Both companies will use xRapid to settle retail remittances and corporate transactions.
IDT facilitates online money transfers and routinely utilizes digital assets to generate liquidity in fiat currencies.
MercuryFX has a similar goal to Ripple, in that it is striving for real-time payments and greater efficiency.
“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… Digital assets promise fast transaction speeds but XRP is far faster than all of them, including bitcoin,” MercuryFX chief executive Alastair Constance said.
XRP is one of the most efficient digital assets for payments due to its low transaction fees. For example, the average cost of an XRP transaction is around US$0.004. In comparison, bitcoin transaction fees average US$40. Similarly, the average transaction time for XRP is 2-3 seconds while for bitcoin, it can take up to one hour.
Ripple said the growing institutional adoption of its XRP token through xRapid shows that progress is being made towards building the Internet of Value (IoV). IoV is Ripple’s long-term vision for moving money instantly.
“With xRapid and XRP, financial institutions can eliminate the need for costly intermediaries or pre-funded Nostro accounts in destination currencies,” the company said in a statement on its insights blog.
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