Ripple divides opinion. On the one hand, it has a solid base and strong partnerships that mean it could genuinely transform the way that money is transferred. It could speed up and reduce the fees associated with making bank payments and transfers.

Divided Opinions

On the other hand, critics slam its association with major banks – cryptocurrency and blockchain are supposed to be the antipathy of major financial institutions. Working with them, in the eyes of blockchain purists, goes against what the community should stand for. However, it is impossible to avoid the fact that the group keeps making gains, signing partnerships, and releasing positive news.

Successful International Transfers

Most recently, London based foreign exchange brokerage Currencies Direct, has successfully completed several international money transfers using the xRapid platform from Ripple. The company announced that it completed a number of transfers between organisations in Europe, the US, and Mexico. While traditional payment methods would usually take between 3 and 5 days for these payments to complete, Currencies Direct has said that it took just a few seconds each transaction.

To complete the transfers, the sender’s funds were transferred to XRP at a local exchange, sent to an exchange local to the recipient, and then transferred back from XRP to the native currency.

Ripple Future

As well as its successful trial by Currencies Direct, Ripple also announced in February that it was working with Western Union, who would also trial its xRapid payment system, which is actually one of two platforms offered by Ripple; the other being RippleNet, which is the network usually preferred by larger institutional investors.

For all of the criticism levelled at Ripple, it aims to bridge a gap between cryptocurrency and major baking institutions and, in that respect, it could be the crypto that actually helps elevate blockchain and cryptocurrency to the ranks of mass adoption.

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