On October 1, the Ripple team announced that RippleNet is now providing on-demand liquidity to financial institutions for cross-border payments using the digital asset XRP. xRapid, the Ripple product powering these transactions, is commercially available and moving into production with multiple customers, including MercuryFX, Cuallix and Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union.
xRapid eliminates the need for a pre-funded nostro account when executing a cross-border payment. It sources liquidity from XRP on exchanges around the world. As a result, cross-border transactions occur in minutes and at a lower cost compared to traditional methods, which take days and incur high foreign exchange fees.
Payment providers MercuryFX and Cuallix both participated in the pilot phase of xRapid earlier this year and saw immediate results in speed and cost savings. MercuryFX will deploy xRapid in the Europe to Mexico corridor.
Currently Cuallix focuses on the key remittance corridor from the U.S. to Mexico. Cuallix will use its financial services platforms Payllix and Cuallet, to provide a better customer experience for individuals and families sending money home.
Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union, a wholesale cooperative financial institution that serves more than 1,400 member and client credit unions throughout the United States, will use xRapid on behalf of their members to create a new cross-border payment service.