The cryptocurrency-based money transfer and payments network Ripple, which debuted in 2012, is collaborating with payments fintech Onafriq to increase remittance capabilities in Africa and between its borders with the United Kingdom, Australia, and several Gulf countries.
At Swell, Ripple’s annual conference in Dubai, an announcement was made on Wednesday about the opening of three new blockchain-based payments corridors between customers of PayAngel in the United Kingdom, Pyypl in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and Zazi Transfer in Australia, and Onafriq users in Africa.
“In 400 million mobile wallets, Onafriq is a significant payment player in Africa,” stated Monica Long, president of Ripple, in an interview. “This is exciting to us because it further strengthens Ripple Payments’ ability to cover 90% of FX markets.”
As a result of its opposition to and partial success in dealing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is widely perceived as being overbearing and reactionary, Ripple has come to represent resistance in the cryptocurrency space.
As a result of the token’s approval by the Dubai Financial Services Authority and Ripple’s participation in a central bank digital currency (CBDC) project with the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), the price of XRP surged this week. A bridge between two fiat currencies is provided by XRP, an open source project used by Ripple, enabling quicker and more effective cross-border payments.
Furthermore, Ripple revealed a number of updates to its licences and product improvements, with an emphasis on payments between larger companies and smaller ones. With recent filings in the EU and the UK, Ripple has been progressively expanding its licence portfolio. Notably, it now has money transmitter licences in the US and an institutional payments licence in Singapore.
“Our set of licenses means we can serve a bigger market,” Long said. “Previously, we only served licensed financial institutions and now we’re able to serve enterprises and SMEs. So for example, importer/exporters and paying suppliers overseas, or paying employees in a company that has freelance developers in different parts of the world.”