Ripple’s (XRP) xRapid To Gain More Ground As Western Union Partners GraceKennedy On Online Remittance

Financial giant, Western Union and GraceKennedy Money Services (GKMS) are partnering to launch an innovative online remittance platform WU.com which is scheduled to be lunch at the end of April this year. The development is coming after Western Union (WU) confirmed it is testing the use of Ripple’s (XRP) Blockchain based settlement system, Xrapid with XRP.

Feeding newsmen at a press conference on Tuesday, at the GraceKennedy’s headquarter in Jamaica, Western Union’s President and CEO Hikmet Ersek made known that the idea is the first of its kind in the Caribbean and Latin America.

GraceKennedy’s Group CEO Don Wehby who made known, the targeted roadmap for the realisation of 15 percent revenue said it has a special way of executing the digital idea.

The CEO of GKMS, Michelle Allen confirmed the development to Loop News saying, “WU.com will be hitting a new customer base; customers who are account-based.

We don’t expect to cannibalize our existing customers but will reach out to new customers that use the banks.”The transaction, according to Allen the transaction that would be done on the platform “will be a convenient 24/7 online service.  You can now send money from anywhere in Jamaica. It has been in development for over two years and heralds our move to digital money. We want people to understand that gone are the days of walking around with cash. We want people to use their phone and GK M Pay products. You can send remittances on your phone and we want you to use your debit and credit cards online to send money.  You can now send money into someone’s bank account using Wu. com.”

GKMS has over 140 locations Island-wide which connects into 200 countries across the globe, Loop aired.
It is not clear if WU.com would be centered on the blockchain tool Western Union says it is testing since February. It is still under speculation if the idea will bring Ripple in. However, since Western Union acquired 25 Percent Stake in GraceKennedy’s Remittance, Cambio and Bill Payments Businesses in the Caribbean, the potential that xRapid is going to be used for this platform is high.

Ripple over the year has been doing fantastic in different parts of the world. The cryptocurrency has just started infiltrating the nooks and crannies of China with a favor from Lian-Lian, which just tested the platform to confirm its potential.  Ripple has since said there is no going back on coasting the whole of China.

While some say ripple won’t get the opportunity of having a presence in China owing to the country’s stiff regulations on cryptocurrency-related matter.

Ripple is serious about the penetration going by the firm’s head of government and regulatory relations for Asia Pacific,  Sagar Sarbh, the company is in a serious discussion with financial service providers, regulators, banks, and calling for explanations on the Chinese financial regulations especially that which has to do with cryptocurrency.

“This year you will see more announcements coming in on China, in terms of educating and differentiating us from some of the other cryptocurrencies that are out there.  As we speak, our team is strategizing about entering the market, but it’s still very early days.”

“In our discussions with China’s regulatory bodies so far, this is something that hasn’t come up. We’re essentially a software company, licensing software to banks and enterprises who want to move money cross-border. If a Chinese bank wants to use our solution and the regulator sees no risk with the solution, I don’t see why the government, even in a so-called hostile environment, would have any issue with that. But this is early days in what you call the trade war and hostile environment.”

In another dimension, Ripple team says it is aiming at collaborating with over half of world’s bank in the next 5 years. To show that it means business, Ripple has partnered with Cuallix, MoneyGram, IDT Corporation, Mercury FX and Western Union.

InstaRem, which processes more than 500,000 transactions yearly, is a leading digital remittance platform in Southeast Asia. The firm has also aired that it is using Ripple’s tool for the cross-border transaction.

Ripple is poised to saving Saudi Arabia of close to $200-$400 million it loses to cross-border transaction yearly. Ripple has fast and reliable tools that no country would resist.

Many a number of development keeps on coming from Ripple partnership due to its tools which have unmatched value in the financial sector today.