Ripple Expands Into Middle East, Canada

Mercury FX, the international currency exchange provider, is reportedly relying on Ripple’s XRP xRapid to open up ten new payment corridors by the middle point of this year.

According to a report in OracleTimes, Mercury FX chief executive Alastair Constance said during the Ripple Regionals 2019, a company event held in London, that it will use xRapid for payments from the U.K. to Canada and the Middle East. Mexico and the Philippines will be added after that, noted the report. “We have plans for the Middle East. We have plans for Canada, imminently. But I think the really exciting thing that xRapid and Ripple brings is access to new markets that perhaps aren’t actually accessible now” he said, according to the report.  The executive went on to say that while it’s two countries today, it could be ten by the middle part of 2019 — and that the currency exchange provider can expand even more beyond that.  The executive noted during his presentation that xRapid provides customers with the ability to benefit from blockchain technology and have payments that are instant and for low prices. The report noted that he went on to say that Ripple’s xRapid is faster than SWIFT.

The endorsement on the part of Mercury FX comes as another Ripple partner is in the news. Earlier this month SendFriend, which operates in the cross-border payments market, announced it raised $1.7 million in funding, with investors including Barclays and MIT Media Lab. SendFriend is focused on cross-border payments between the U.S. and the Philippines. SendFriend is using Ripple’s xRapid to facilitate the payments between the two companies.  Remittances handled by traditional methods have had problems in the past, with a lack of transparency and high fee structure among the major issues. According to SendFriend, of the $650 billion in remittances coming in and out of the U.S., $45 billion is lost in fees.