Author – Sam Reads, UK
UAE Exchange, one of Middle East Top money transfer and FOREX firm just inked a new partnership with San Francisco based Blockchain – Startup Ripple. The deal comes as the XPR is trying to break its lowest price of $1. The Ripple Company has been successful in convincing mainstream financial institutions and Central Banks to adopt its RippleNet product for cross-border transactions.
The UAE Exchange is present in over 31 countries and is among the first Middle East international remittance operators and forex service provider. It is currently a member Bankchain a collaboration of banks researching on implementing the blockchain technology to boost financial innovations. In last year through its commitment to exploring the blockchain, it acquired Loyyal a blockchain startup hoping to create a global loyalty network. The exchange hopes to reduce the cost and time associated with existing SWIFT payment services.
The deal will boost the RippleNet customer base that currently has over 100 members ranging from central banks, financial institutions and retail and corporate banks. The RippleNet is designed to replace SWIFT payment service currently in use for settling international transactions and provide advanced financial real-time clearing services. The company will only use the RippleNet product for executing transactions and does not extend to use of Ripple’s native token. RippleNet is a product of the Ripple Company and does not support the Ripple Consensus Ledger -the underlying technology that supports the XRP token
RippleNet popularity is rapidly growing as the mainstream financial sector tries to incorporate the Blockchain to secure and fast track their operations. In February last year, ripple partnered with an emirate’s largest bank the National Bank of Abu Dhabi to implement secure blockchain-cross border payments. The region consists a significant number of expatriates and immigrants making it one of the greatest tour and busiest remittance corridors in the world.
The partnership comes days after ripple just inked another partnership deal with Hong Kong-based LianLian to facilitate cross-border transaction to China and other regional neighbors. Santander UK is also utilizing another Ripple product –the current, while Mercury FX, IDT Corporation, and MoneyGram all are in the pilot testing stage of the xRapid product which is based on the Ripple Consensus Ledger that uses the XPR the company’s token
This comes as Ripple announced last year that they hope to enter into a new agreement with major global money transfer firms. Ripple and UAE Exchange both issued a statement stating the importance of the RippleNet to facilitating cost-effective, fast and reliable international and cross-border transactions.
In October last year, UAE Exchange CEO Promoth Manghat stated that the normal consumers or bank customers may never realize the importance of the blockchain technology instantly, but over time they will start to experience the change and the benefits it brings in all aspects of life from manufacturing, service to social services.
