RippleNet has acquired a new partner according to an announcement made by the Kuwait House of Finance (KFH). The Kuwaiti bank has confirmed that it is joining RippleNet, which works as a SWIFT-replacement global blockchain network, counting more than 100 financial institutions that joined already. These include banks, payment providers and other financial institutions as well.

The network provides an instant cross-border payment option for its retail customers. The announcement did not detail whether the bank is going to use xCurrent or xRapid services of Ripple. The main difference between the two is that while xCurrent is an enterprise blockchain software that facilitates settlements in fiat, xRapid is a product that uses Ripple’s token, XRP for cross-border transactions.

Participants from the Arabic region of RippleNet includes UAE-based National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah and UAE Exchange which is one of the Middle East’s biggest forex firms.

This is not the only news that started circulating about Ripple lately. A much sadder story is available on Ethereum Worlds News, claiming that around $500 million in XRP is possibly lost forever after the sudden death of crypto billionaire Mathew Mellon who was among the early investors of the firm. Mellon initially invested $2 million in the XRP token that once worth $1 billion at the highest peak of the cryptocurrency. After the death of Mellon many went after his fortune, but so far it seems that the XRP was kept in cold storages in different location across the US and apparently there is no way of recovering the private keys even if the wallets will be found.