Ripple is looking to expand its presence in the MENA region, forming a new partnership with Pyyp, a global blockchain-based financial services technology company. The latter has reportedly joined Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) network, which, among many benefits, allows it to bring instant, low-cost remittances to its customers.
Pyyp adopted RippleNet’s global payment network service, which leverages Ripple’s native stablecoin for instant cross-border payments, through the ODL service.
The San Francisco-based blockchain payments company has been pushing ahead to bring faster and cheaper cross-border payments using XRP in the Middle East.
Through On-Demand Liquidity, RippleNet utilizes XRP as a bridge between two currencies, thus lowering operational costs, unlocking capital, and enables the users to avoid pre-funding accounts on each side of a transaction.
Today’s partnership with Pyyp means things are shifting for Ripple’s MENA business into a higher gear. RippleNet, which already has attracted over 300 financial institutions, has signed an existing roster of financial institutions and money transfer companies.
The MENA region is home to two of the top three remittance corridors in the world, namely Saudi Arabia and United Arab. The two countries had $78 billion in remittances in 2020.
Supported by its new regional headquarter in Dubai, Ripple already has logged a 4X growth in transaction volume year-to-date versus all of 2020.
Most recently, Ripple has signed Al Ansari Exchange, a UAE-based foreign exchange and money transfer company, to use RippleNet Cloud. Ripple’s cloud-based financial network technology facilitates same-day remittances to many countries.
“MENA continues to be a critical region for Ripple thanks to our outstanding roster of customers, a welcoming regulatory environment and a regional focus on the needed improvements in the current financial system,” said Brooks Entwistle, Managing Director of RippleNet in APAC and MENA.
“The establishment of yet another first-in-market ODL launch demonstrates the understanding that digital assets will play a central role in the future of global payments. We are delighted to partner with forward-thinking companies, like Pyypl, to ensure we can continue to break the status quo in the current global financial system to continue delivering the best experience for customers,” Entwistle added.
Antti Arponen, Co-Founder and CEO of Pyypl, also noted: “We’re excited to be Ripple’s first partner of choice to bring the deployment of ODL to the Middle East. This enables our ever-increasing number of users to deliver remittances instantly and cost-effectively. We’ve also reduced our inefficient use of capital through ODL, and look forward to an exciting rollout of its capabilities across the region.”
Ripple is developing several blockchain-based solutions that enable cross-border money transactions between banks in a faster and cheaper way than the current systems. The XRP issuer has recently made significant inroads in Asia as its business continues to face difficulties in the US.
Earlier this year, MoneyGram cut ties with Ripple in light of the ongoing legal fight with the US Securities & Exchange Commission. The SEC’s complaint already mentioned the MoneyGram involvement, describing the money transfer outfit as yet another “conduit for Ripple’s unregistered XRP sales into the market.”
The global expansion, however, comes as recent developments in the Ripple vs. SEC case has positively affected the world’s 7th biggest cryptocurrency. XRP has surged above the $1.13 mark earlier today.
