American Express is planning to launch its own blockchain platform before the end of 2018 according to a job posting that recently appeared online.

The job posting, which you can view here on the American Express jobs database, is open for the public to view. It’s unclear if American Express deliberately revealed the information or if this was meant to be an internal job posting. In any case, the job posting is still online hours after the news first broke – so it doesn’t appear to be a mistake.

American Express has already confirmed that it has partnered with Ripple to launch a blockchain solution called xCurrent. Last week, American Express Vice President Colin O’Flaherty revealed that his company was using xCurrent, a blockchain-based financial solution from Ripple Inc. O’Flaherty confirmed the news at the last day of The Money 20/20 event, which took place from June 4 to 6 in Amsterdam.

The job is officially with FX International Payments, or FXIP, which is part of the Global Corporate Payments division of American Express. FXIP is currently operating in five markets worldwide, including the United States, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.

In the job posting you find the description:

“In 2018 we are introducing a block chain solution with Ripple and Santander. This is an exciting time to join the FXIP organization as we increase our focus on growth, new products and technology offerings to meet customer needs and build on the American Express brand as a top, global provider of payments services.”

The Sales Coordinator will be responsible for contacting prospects to determine their upcoming payment needs.

American Express First Partnered with Ripple in November 2017

We first heard news of a partnership between American Express, Ripple, and Santander Bank back in November 2017.

In November, the two banks entered an agreement with the blockchain technology company to use Ripple’s blockchain to speed up cross-border payments between the United States and the UK.

Following the arrangement, payments made through American Express’ FXIP platform were routed through Ripple’s enterprise-grade blockchain network, RippleNet.

This latest job posting reveals that American Express is taking blockchain technology a step further. American Express will use Ripple’s xCurrent blockchain to facilitate payments from customers to SMEs.

San Francisco-based Ripple Inc. is a leading provider of blockchain technology to banks and corporations. The company’s flagship blockchain platform, RippleNet, hosts two key products – xCurrent and xRapid. Banks can use Ripple’s protocol to exchange value from one fiat currency to another directly without the need for any intermediate blockchain currency. Unlike other currencies, there’s a separation between the cryptocurrency and the blockchain.

“By the end of this year, major banks will use xRapid as a liquidity tool,” explained Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, speaking at last week’s The Money 20/20 event in Amsterdam, as reported by Smartereum. “By the end of next year, I would certainly hope that we will see […] in the order of magnitude […] of dozens.”

Obviously, American Express is one of the first major names to jump onboard – and this job posting proves this is real. Stay tuned for more information as Ripple and American Express continue their partnership.