- Ripple set to expand in major Asian economy thanks to participation of Coinone, a “Big Four” exchange
- Innovative cross border payments service to speed up remittances process from South Korea to several other Asian economies
- “We hope that the cooperation between Coinone and SBI Ripple Asia will provide allow us to introduce a range of financial services that make use of blockchain technology”, says Coinone’s CEO
A major cryptocurrency exchange in the Asian country of South Korea has announced that it will join a leading blockchain-powered cross border payments platform.
Coinone, which is described in the cryptocurrency press as one exchange in the country’s “Big Four”, is set to participate in SBI-Ripple Asia.
This project provides remittance services to several major Asian economies, such as Thailand and Japan.
Now that Coinone has gotten involved, it’s more likely that a critical mass will emerge around Ripple and other blockchain-related payment services.
According to press in South Korea, Coinone’s Chief Executive Shin Won-hee said that “a range of financial services” could be on the way as a result of the firm’s decision to join Ripple.
“We hope that the cooperation between Coinone and SBI Ripple Asia will provide allow us to introduce a range of financial services that make use of blockchain technology”, Won-hee is reported as saying.
When in use, the SBI-Ripple Asia service can allow transactions to be settled within 48 hours – and sometimes in as little as three hours.
Unlike conventional providers of remittance services, who may choose to waive fees or alter them in various scenarios, there is a fixed fee of 1% to use the service.
The service is increasingly popular in Asia. The “SBI” part of the name comes from the Japanese firm SBI Group: its President and CEO sits on the board of Ripple.
However, Ripple is not limited in its scope to Asia. The Asian arm of the service is part of the RippleNet worldwide system, which operates in a large number of markets across the globe.
Many payment providers who work in the cross-border payments space have committed themselves to Ripple in the past.
Growth is on the cards for Ripple. Earlier this month, for example, it was revealed that Ripple would be expanding to another key market – Brazil. It has hired a financial technology entrepreneur, Luiz Antonio Sacco, to power forward its growth.
According to a quote from the SVP of Global Operations at Ripple, this was a direct response to “high customer demand”.
“In January, Ripple surpassed 200 customers on RippleNet”, said Eric van Miltenburg, SVP of Global Operations.
“The company is experiencing rapid customer growth across all markets, and is launching in Brazil in response to high customer demand in South America. We are fortunate to have Luiz onboard to expand our presence in the region and help our customers address the challenges of cross-border payments.”
Ripple is just one example of the many exciting things happening at the cutting edge of international payments. Find out more about what’s happening to propel this industry forward over at our news pages.
