Earlier this year we announced our partnership with BitGo to make it easier for banks and payment providers to use XRP for global payments. Today we are pleased to share we have expanded our partnership with BitGo, which will see XRP listed on several leading digital asset exchanges: Bitso, Coinone, bitbank, and SCI’s BuyBitcoin. Additionally, AlphaPoint will be adding XRP to their platform so that their exchange customers can easily list XRP, and separately, Quoine’s QRYPTOS exchange will list XRP in Q2 2017. SBI Virtual Currencies also plans to list XRP later this year.
By working with a greater number of exchanges across different countries to list XRP, we can better serve the growing demand for global payments in both major currency corridors and emerging markets. This is ultimately because the more XRP is traded against different currencies, such as the Korean won (Coinone) and the Mexican peso (Bitso), the more liquid it becomes.
“Listing XRP on several new exchanges reduces the friction for our customers to send payments into these rapidly growing markets,” notes Asheesh Birla, VP of Product at Ripple. “Within hours our customers can get-up-and-running with payments into a new country.”
As XRP liquidity increases through these additional exchange listings, cross-border payments become easier for financial institutions to make, particularly in emerging markets. This is crucial because making payments in many emerging market currencies can be costly: it requires multiple currency traders and pre-funded local currency accounts in the destination country – effectively trapping cash. Instead, banks and payment providers can use XRP to settle these payments on demand, and in a highly liquid and low volatility state, XRP could lower liquidity costs for banks by approximately 98 percent.
BitGo Co-founder & CEO Mike Belshe, commenting on the announcement, said: “Ripple’s momentum in making cross-border payments a reality with XRP is palpable. We’re excited to be working with Ripple, and we’re proud to have been selected by them to help exchanges and their users secure XRP. We expect 2017 will be a very strong year for XRP.”
XRP is a digital asset with a clear use case – it’s the best digital asset for payments. We are pleased to see the continued demand for XRP via these new exchange listings as it ultimately enables us to provide our customers one frictionless experience to send money around the globe, particularly in those markets that need this service the most. Our ongoing work with BitGo and these new exchanges will allow us to fulfill that commitment and builds on the significant momentum established by XRP’s previous listings on Bitstamp and Kraken.
To learn more, please visit ripple.com/xrp.