A consortium of Japanese banks will be using the Ripple blockchain to allow consumers to settle transactions quickly through a new smartphone application.
In an announcement released yesterday, by the San Francisco-based company, ‘MoneyTap is the first mobile app of its kind to be developed and used by multiple, different banks in the country.’ It will be available in autumn 2018 and three members of the Japan bank consortium will be the first to go live on the app: SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank, and Resona Bank.
According to the announcement, this will follow with a roll out to the remaining bank members, led by SBI Ripple Asia, which makes up 61 banks covering over 80 percent of all banking assets in Japan. Ripple said that consumers of the three bank consortium members will be able to settle domestic transactions quickly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All that is required is a bank account, a phone number, or a QR code.
Speaking of the Ripple powered mobile application, Takashi Okita, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, said:
Together with the trust, reliability, and reach of the bank consortium, we can remove friction from payments and create a faster, safer, and more efficient domestic payments experience for our customers.
Ripple has long focused on changing the infrastructure of cross-border payments in the finance industry. However, the platform has come under fire from many due to its partnership with banks. There are more than 100 financial institutions that use xCurrent, which provides interoperability between all currencies and allows banks to transact with each other.
Additionally, the startup has made new additions to pilots of xRapid, which allows assets to be swapped in and out of XRP faster. One of its partners is U.S. money transfer giant MoneyGram, which is testing XRP through Ripple’s xRapid.
In January, Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO, said in a statement that:
The inefficiencies of global payments don’t just affect banks, they also affect institutions like MoneyGram. Money transfer companies are incredibly important because they help people get money to their friends and loved ones.
Ripple’s mission is to create an Internet of Value where the movement of money is made possible instantly.