Even in 2017, wiring money overseas costs $30-$60, can take days, and happens through antiquated banking systems. Ripple Labs aims to helps banks and other large institutions and companies save hundreds of billions of dollars in regulatory compliance and back office settlement and transfer procedures.
Currently, large companies like PayPal, TransferWise and AirBnB must keep cash all around the world in various banks in order to make fast transactions and make payments in near real-time.
Stefan Thomas of Ripple Labs estimates that 26 trillion dollars is “laying around” worldwide, unusable for rapid commerce, due to compliance and regulatory issues, and a lack of transparency and trust amongst banks worldwide. Just image what 26 trillion dollars could be doing otherwise – a whole lot of good in the world, but it is used inefficiently in service to a glacially slow and opaque international banking system.
Stefan Thomas, CTO of Ripple, explains: “Ripple works with banks to improve the financial infrastructure that [banks] use for cross-border payments… we help banks improve that user experience and also drive costs down.”
Using Blockchain-based technology, Ripple’s XRP token and IOU system is changing the game for large financial institutions and companies worldwide.