For all the buzz around blockchain technologies, few companies have seized the moment like Ripple. And this week, the enterprise blockchain solution provider announced a new partnership with FLEETCOR Technologies. The two firms will launch a pilot program to test the viability of Ripple’s digital asset XRP to improve the efficiency of international payments.
Cambridge Global Payments, the B2B international payments provider owned by FLEETCOR will execute the pilot, using XRP in payment flows through Ripple’s on-demand liquidity solution, XRapid. Cambridge processes more than $20 billion in cross-border, B2B payments each year for its 13,000 business customers. This newly-announced initiative adds to the work Cambridge and Ripple have already done together with the latter’s real-time messaging and transaction settlement for the enterprise solution, xCurrent.
“We are excited for the insights this pilot program is expected to deliver, and we will use that information to help both Cambridge and FLEETCOR develop our use case for blockchain in international payments,” Cambridge Global Payments COO Mark Frey said. Speaking for Ripple, Danny Aranda, Director of Business Development, praised Cambridge as a company that “understand(s) the benefits of digital assets and (is) serious about using XRP to overcome the inefficiencies in the global payment system.”
Making its Finovate debut at OpenCoin at FinovateSpring 2013, Ripple has been recognized as both a pioneer and a critical company in the bringing the benefits of distributed ledger technology to the enterprise. In recent months, the company has forged a wide variety of partnerships with FIs and financial services firms such as UAE Exchange, Banco Santander, and MoneyGram to help establish pilot programs and use cases for blockchain technology in areas ranging from international payment facilitation to the Internet of Things.
Ripple has raised more than $93 million in funding and includes IDG Capital Partners, SBI Investment, Core Innovation Capital, and Santander Innoventures among its investors. Both founder Larsen and current CEO Brad Garlinghouse were featured in Forbes.com’s article Prophets of Boom: Meet Crypto’s Richest, “a list of the richest secretive freaks, geeks, and visionaries” in the world of cryptocurrencies,” earlier this year. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in San Francisco, California, with offices in New York, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Singapore, and Sydney, Australia.