Payment firms IDT and MercuryFX to use Ripple (XRP)

Ripple today announced it has added two new payment partners with IDT Corporation and MercuryFX signing up to use the company’s xRapid solution to settle retail remittances and corporate transactions.

Both companies join MoneyGram and Cuallix, who also recently partnered with Ripple for using XRP in payment flow to enable on-demand liquidity for global payments.

IDT and MercuryFX both have unique customers and business models:

• MercuryFX — a global currency exchange provider — their focus is on challenging the status quo in retail remittance payments. Similar to Ripple’s goal of reducing friction in global payments, MercuryFX wants to help payments move in real time, providing a more efficient and transparent customer experience.
• IDT — a publicly traded telecommunications company, which facilitates online money transfers between individuals — the goal is to make sure their customers can send low-cost global payments.

“It’s no secret that XRP is faster and more efficient than bitcoin or any other digital asset. It settles in three seconds and at fractions of a penny,” said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple. “Payment providers like IDT Corporation and MercuryFX are early movers because they understand what XRP can do for their business and customer experience. We’re excited to have them at the forefront of the Internet of Value.”

Ripple says that the growing institutional adoption of XRP, through the on-demand liquidity solution, xRapid, shows that real progress is being made towards building the Internet of Value (IoV). IoV is Ripple’s long-term vision for instantly moving money the same way information moves. With xRapid and XRP, financial institutions can eliminate the need for intermediaries or pre-funded Nostro accounts in destination currencies.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”Alastair Constance, CEO, and founder of Mercury FX” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Ripple, XRP and fiat currency fit hand in glove. What we’re doing together is realizing one of the best use cases for frictionless transactions, which is international settlement. xRapid allows us to drive down the cost of currency exchange and global settlement, making our customers more competitive and saving them tens of millions of dollars each year. Digital assets promise fast transaction speeds but XRP is far faster than all of them, including bitcoin. Cutting settlement times from hours and days to just three seconds or less will remove billions of dollars in unnecessary intermediary fees.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”Alfredo O’Hagan, senior vice president of IDT’s consumer payments business” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Our BOSS Revolution international money transfer business routinely utilizes digital assets to generate liquidity in fiat currencies for our disbursement agents as part of our transaction settlement process. We’re excited to pilot Ripple’s xRapid solution for on-demand liquidity. We expect that xRapid will enable us to settle more transactions in real-time and at a lower cost.”[/perfectpullquote]