It seems that Ripple is gaining more influence in the EU and Asia, following reports that five remitting companies will be partnering the San Francisco-based blockchain company, specifically its xVia API. The companies include such names as FairFX (UK), RationalFX (UK), Exchange4Free (UK), UniPAY (Georgia) and MoneyMatch (Malaysia).

xVia is a standardized API that lets businesses and financial institutions send and receive instant payments through RippleNet, a blockchain of Ripple. Ripple says that, “xVia is for corporates, payment providers and banks who want to send payments across various networks using a standard interface. xVia serves as a vehicle for a variety of different players within the global payments ecosystem to interact and complete transactions directly.“

Adopting the xVia technology will enable the said companies to significantly reduce transaction costs while increasing transaction speed and transparency at the same time. It seems like a win-win situation for everyone involved, doesn‘t it? The next few days will be for testing, after which the full implementation should begin immediately unless some major faults within the system are detected.

While 3 of the 5 new partners are located in the UK, it seems that ultimately Ripple envisions xVia as a way to unite a fragmented payment systems sector used in emerging countries. xVia is already up and running in developing countries such as Vietnam and some African countries, where it provides ease of use along with transparency in financial transactions. The API standardization helps to ensure that high failure rates, often associated with traditional cross-border payments, are significantly reduced.

Ripple seems to be excited by the new collaboration, with its Senior Vice President Asheesh Birla stating that, “By tapping our global network with xVia, our customers now access new markets quicker and cost efficiently. All of these customers run into the same problem: building bespoke connections to banks and networks all over the world. It’s expensive and time consuming. xVia enables them to grow their overall market share by reaching new customers in new markets, easier than ever before.“

Ripple’s latest partners join an impressive and ever-growing list of partnerships for the company, whose XRP token has claimed the third spot of all digital currencies by market cap, behind only Ethereum and Bitcoin. Other recent notable collaborations include deals with Spanish banking giant Santander as well major banks in Brazil, India and Singapore. In February, the blockchain startup announced penning a deal with Saudi Arabia’s central bank for processing instantaneous cross-border payments via xCurrent, another payment processing solution, developed by Ripple.

Earlier this year, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, made a bold prediction, saying that in the next five years Ripple will be working with more than half of the world’s top banks. If the recent events are any indication, he might well be right.

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