Ripple is becoming invincible as far as cross-border payment is concerned. Banco Santander, a Spanish bank based in Santander, Spain, has re-affirmed that no cross-border payment services provider can match up to the quality of service Ripple provides.
The bank uses Ripple’s mobile payment app One Pay FX which according to its executive chairman Ana Botin provides fast and timely payments to any part of the world. In contrast, Ripple’s closest rival TransferWise, provides slower services outside of the UK according to Botin.
Botin says the bank currently uses One Pay FX app to power half of all its transactions and is looking at extending its use to its customers who do not operate accounts with the bank.
“With this new initiative that is already in place, we’re actually covering 50% of all the FX payments that the Santander Group does annually. And it works really well, because the rails that we’re using – which, as you say, we’ve collaborated with Ripple – we’ve been testing those for two years, actually with our own employees. And it works. It’s safe. It’s fully compliant, and obviously we’ve made sure we comply with all local regulations. So you’re in safe hands.”
Ripple indeed has made a mark in cross-border payments. Just yesterday, the company announced that its payment network RippleNet now has over 200 customers all over the world who have also testified to the quality of payment services that RippleNet provides.
It’s no wonder some people believe XRP, the base token for Ripple is the future of the cryptocurrency industry as a whole and may overtake Bitcoin by market capitalization to become the number one cryptocurrency in the future. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also expressed optimism today that Ripple will soon become the digital asset of choice for most banks in the world.
As merchants around the world continue to seek better payment options than the traditional methods which take days to complete, Ripple can only get more relevant as time goes on.
It is obvious that the company has a brighter future ahead with merchants looking for faster and cheaper payment systems which it provides. However, can XRP really take the first spot from Bitcoin (BTC)? Only time will tell as anything is possible in the industry, although it will take quite some time for that to happen if it does happen eventually.
