LianLian International, a Chinese payment provider is joining RippleNet to offer faster and cheaper cross border transactions to customers from US, Europe and China, according to an announcement made on February 7 on Ripple’s blog.

RippleNet is a decentralized global network consisting of banks, payment providers and other financial institutions, which by using Ripple’s distributed financial technology, provide real-time messaging, clearing and settlement of financial transactions.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said in a tweet that Ripple “just opened the door to the largest e-commerce market in the world”.

The Hong Kong based LianLian will use Ripple’s centralized software for payment solution, xCurrent, which was created to work with financial institutions by permitting banks to confirm payment information in real time before the transactions starts and after it ends.

xCurent differs from Ripple’s xRapid solution because it does not use the company’s native cryptocurrency Ripple.

LianLian already has partnerships with PayPal and Apple, serving marketplaces such as Amazon, Ali Express, and Ebay.

Regarding the Ripple alliance, CEO of LianLian International, Arthur Zhu, said:

“With RippleNet, we will further enhance that experience and increase our market share by offering customers instant, blockchain-powered payments across the 19 currencies that we currently support. We look forward to working with Ripple to power payment flows between China and RippleNet members in new markets.”

LianLian is the newest member on Ripple’s list, which currently counts over 100 financial institutions, the most recent partnership being with Moneygram, which was in mid-January.

This partnership between Ripple and LianLian comes at a time when cryptocurrency is facing intense regulation from the Chinese government, while its social media is removing crypto –related advertisements, and search engines are banning foreign exchanges on top of their previous existing exchange and trading restrictions.