Ripple’s crypto-asset XRP reached a five-week high yesterday after Ripple announced its new service that targets the $1.8 billion remittance market from Japan to the Philippines.
The value of XRP rose to $0.74 during the European trading hours. It is the highest price since June 21 and shows an increment of 13%, according to CoinDesk 20 data.
Ripple recently announced its partnership with SBI Remit Co. Ltd., an international money transfer company, Philippines mobile-payments service Coins.ph, and crypto-exchange SBI VC Trade, to provide on-demand liquidity (ODL) service from Japan to the Philippines. Soon after the announcement, the price of XRP reached around $0.65.
The remittance market is a big one between the Japan-Filipino corridor as Filipinos situated in Japan send nearly $2 billion to their homeland every year. Ripple explained that Japan has one of the highest remittance rates in the world, nearly twice as much as the average cost of the G-8 countries.
The company will use its cross-border payment service “xRapid” for ODL and will allow customers to send and receive using XRP, facilitating faster and cheaper payments.
In a press release issued by the company, Ripple said:
“This is Ripple’s first On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service implementation in Japan, setting the stage to drive more adoption of crypto-enabled services in the region. By leveraging the digital asset XRP to eliminate pre-funding, the two companies can also free up capital and accelerate the expansion of their own payments businesses.”
Nobuo Ando, Representative Director of SBI Remit also noted:
“We see tremendous potential in leveraging blockchain technology to transform not only the way payment transactions are made but in how we manage our business by unlocking trapped capital. The launch of ODL in Japan is just the start, and we look forward to continuing to push into the next frontier of financial innovation, beyond real-time payments in just the Philippines, but to other parts of the region as well.”
