In a few articles last year and one this year, I said that Ripple is very close to the live use of digital XRP in cross-border payments. In the last article, I was saying that I expect this year or early 2019 to announce the first (non-test) use of XRP in cross-border payments. This is my assumption that has proven to be true. Last week, Cuallix announced the release of the Cuallet tool. Cuallet is the world’s first tool to use XRapid and XRP in cross-border payments. Last days, exactly on March 1, Zip Remit announced that it uses XRapid and XRP. In conclusion, we now have two companies that use the digital XRP asset.
Here is how the international payment system revolution unfolds faster than we anticipated. I was expecting Cuallix to be one of those who announced the first use of XRP, but I did not expect this to happen so soon. History is written under our eyes. Let’s not forget we are in the 21st century – the century of speed.
According to the official Ripple site, the XRapid tool is defined as: “XRapid uniquely uses a digital asset, XRP, to offer on-demand liquidity, which dramatically reduces costs while enabling real-time payments in emerging markets. Built for enterprise use, XRP offers banks and payment providers a highly efficient, scalable, reliable liquidity option to service cross-border payments. ”
Specifically, XRP will be used in the XRapid tool, which will result in lower transfer costs (-60%), at a 4-second transfer rate and a scalability of 1500 transactions / second. XRP currently exceeds any other crypto currency, including Bitcoin, ETH or Litecoin.
Lately, we’ve had a lot of big names that have announced the use of XCurrent, or XRapid testing. More recently, Cambridge Global Payments announced the use of XRapid and XRP:
,,Cambridge Global Payments – a subsidiary of FLEETCOR Technologies and a leading global provider of commercial payment solutions – is launching a pilot program to use XRP in cross-border payment flows through xRapid.
Cambridge currently has over 13,000 clients around the world and handles $20 billion in international transactions annually. Incorporating XRP into these flows will provide their clients with a cross-border payment experience that is significantly faster, cheaper and more transparent.
Cambridge joined five major financial institutions who have publicly announced that they are piloting xRapid, including Cuallix, MoneyGram, IDT Corporation, Mercury FX and Western Union”.
For all financial institutions using XCurrent, the next logical and natural step is to use XRapid and XRP. That does not mean, overnight, that over one hundred Ripple partners who are now using XCurrent will announce that they have joined XRapid. This process will occur gradually. One of the basic conditions for the efficient operation of XRapid is the creation of sufficient liquidity on the market. XRP liquidity will grow steadily as the number of exchanges adds XRP and market entry to Market Makers wanting to ensure liquidity.
XCurrent solves a lot of the problems these banks and financial institutions are facing. It speeds up the transfer time and reduces their costs. The big advantage that xRapid brings is on demand liquidity. If a smaller bank or money transfer company uses XRapid and they are transferring $ 5000-10000, they will be able to liquidate that on the exchanges instantly. The current volume is more than enough for that type of demand. If a financial institution would like to make a transfer of 30-40 million dollars, XRapid’s liquidity would not be enough at the moment. For this, XRP must be listed on as many exchanges.
Brad Garlinghouse was quoted many times saying, “Getting XRP on as many exchanges as possible is a top goal for Ripple in 2018”.
Well, the first (non-test) use of XRP through the Cuallet tool has had no positive effect on the price. I am convinced that this news has not escaped institutional investors. When the Cuallet was launched, Crypto Market was in a pessimistic area. It is true that Cuallix is not an important corridor for cross-border payments. Cuallix is also not as big as Western Union or Money Gram. These may be the reasons why the first use of XRP did not have a positive effect on the price.
As we know, Western Union and Money Gram announced the first tests with XRapid. It’s just a matter of time until one of the two companies will announce the non-test use of XRapid and XRP. This news will be able to positively move the XRP price. Also, in 2018, new financial institutions will be set up to adopt XCurrent and later the XRapid instrument, along with the digital XRP asset.
I expect 2018 to be one of Ripple’s best years. The year 2018 will be known as the beginning of the mass adoption of the XRapid instrument and the digital XRP asset. These positive fundamental data will be reflected earlier or later in the XRP price.
I notice that in many forums, traders with no experience show their dissatisfaction with XRP price stability. More precisely: why does not the price rise? Well, I do not worry. Last year I watched the XRP carefully and noticed that it behaves atypically with other currencies. XRP has long periods when the price oscillates in a narrow range, after which a violent upward movement takes place.
Range periods may take several months. During that period, whales eliminate as many weak hands on the market. They buy bigger amounts of cheap XRP. This is the essential condition for the accumulation phase in which we are. As the period of evolution in the range will be longer, the higher the jump will be stronger. Finally, after the whales bought the quantity proposed by XRP, on the background of positive news, the initial impulse that will produce FOMO among buyers is created. I know this is how XRP works and I’m willing to wait anytime for the big wave.
