Payment companies are quickly taking advantage of Ripple, a fast-growing payment platform that offers secure payment options, as investors increasingly hold on to its token amid growing political geopolitical uncertainty and the rampaging strong dollar.
iRemit, a non-bank remittance provider that uses Ripple’s Open Digital Ledger for Australia-to-Philippine’s remittances, recently announced a partnership with Velo labs to access the $34 billion cross-border payment market in the Philippines.
Novatti Group joined RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service last year to make cross-border payments using the digital asset, XRP.
Through a partnership with iRemit, the largest Filipino-owned non-bank remittance provider, Ripple and Novatti targeted first the Australia-Philippines corridor
Consequently, the token’s price at the time of writing was $0.814657 and its volume was $2 billion per day. XRP however as posted a weekly loss of over 5% as the strong dollar hamper its upsides
This is why it is happening
- Asia Pacific countries are leading the way with instant payments through digital banking solutions, according to the crypto giant. By experimenting and innovating to better facilitate both cross-border and domestic instant payments, they are increasing the region’s prominence and leadership in the payments sector.
- Digital banking has grown to dominate the APAC region in recent years, with 20% of approximately 250 digital banks worldwide located there.
- Also, the growing adoption of smartphones within APAC has opened up the market for the launch of new applications that allow instant payments. Consumers and businesses alike will be on the lookout for real-time payments as smartphone usage in the region rises to 83% by 2025.
Ripple’s legal tussle likely outcome
- A settlement could be reached by the end of April, according to a number of legal experts. The developers of XRP are widely believed to have the upper hand in a potential trial, leading to speculation that the SEC may agree to settle.
- There are several reasons to believe that a settlement may be reached as soon as this month, even though no dates have been set in stone.
- According to the SEC filing, Ripple should pay US$1.3 billion plus interest, i.e., the proceeds from the XRP coin offering plus a bit more. In the event that the two parties settle, the amount will likely be much smaller than that. Compromise is often expected between both parties in settlements.
- Furthermore, many experts believe Ripple will win in the pre-trial hearings now taking place. As evidence that a Ripple trial will be successful, they often point to Ripple’s wins on depositions and witnesses.
- With Ripple’s “leverage” over SEC, it would seem likely that a relatively small fee would be settled between the two parties.
That being said, the team at Ripple Labs is working on improving the user experience. It is constantly working on improving its blockchain as well as recruiting banks to use its payment network.
