San Francisco fintech firm, Ripple, is targeting expansion of its ODL (XRP-based payment solution) remittance corridors to APAC and EMEA, a senior executive of the firm has stated.
Ripple Plans To Soon Power Remittances To APAC And EMEA
Traditional nostro/vostro systems require pre-funding before sending money across borders. Ripple created the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) payment solution which leverages XRP cryptocurrency to transfer money fast and at low costs without the need for pre-funded accounts. This undeniably simplifies the lives of its clients and financial institutions by making the processing of cross-border payments seamless.
Ripple has already established four payment corridors that are currently enjoying high volumes of transactions. Now, according to Rippleās senior vice president of customer success, Marcus Treacher, the blockchain startup is looking to creating new ODL corridors to Asia-Pacific and also Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in the course of this year.
In a new interview published by City A.M., Treacher quipped:
āWeāre also focused on expanding our On-Demand Liquidity service which uses XRP as a bridge currency between two fiat currencies ā this is the first time that digital assets are being used in production for an enterprise use case. We have established On-Demand Liquidity corridors into Mexico, the Philippines, Australia, and Europe, and weāre hoping to further this expansion by opening corridors to APAC and EMEA this year.ā
As ZyCrypto covered earlier in June, the SVP of product and corporate development at Ripple, Asheesh Birla, also asserted that the company is actively working on new ODL corridors this year.
Is Ripple The Jekyll And Hyde Of Crypto?
Ripple is making several contributions to the cryptocurrency industry as well as to customers worldwide. For instance, Treacher explains that the fintech has teamed up with traditional financial systems in a bid to speed up innovation which will give customers a faster and more convenient experience.
He cites the partnership between Ripple and Banco Santander where the pair developed a blockchain-based mobile app that offers speedy international payments. āThe application completely overhauled the inconvenient process previously in place where a customer would have to visit a branch, fill in forms, and then wait days for the recipient to receive the money. Now, the bank uses RippleNet to offer same-day international payments with an easy mobile experience,ā he added.
On the topic of the hurdles that the crypto space currently faces, Treacher notes the lack of regulatory clarity as one of them. At the moment, national currencies like the dollar or the pound have extensive rules and regulations that dictate how these assets are to be dealt with. However, most countries are reluctant about developing the same for the nascent cryptocurrencies.
Treacher hinted that Ripple is playing its part in shaping the future of crypto by being the very first blockchain-oriented company to join global regulatory bodies like ISO 20022.
But despite these efforts, Ripple constantly faces criticism for other reasons, at the same time. Case in point, some crypto observers claim it intentionally smoothers the growth of the XRP cryptocurrency due to the massive XRP stash it still controls and consistently ādumpsā on investors. Moreover, the company is also facing several class-action lawsuits that allege the sale of XRP as an unregistered security.
