As became known from a fresh press release by Ripple, the company is preparing a large-scale upgrade of the Ripple Payments platform, with the goal of turning it into a unified service for businesses that combines traditional finance and digital assets. The main detail is that Ripple is ceasing to be just a tool for transfers and is introducing features obtained through the acquisition of Palisade and Rail.
Ripple introduces three new features for payments service
Several key integrations are planned, including custody management as well as introduction of virtual accounts, with the ability to open named accounts for receiving payments in both fiat and stablecoins. Automation is also being implemented, meaning the system will independently collect, exchange and pay out funds in the required currency through a single interface.
In addition, Ripple proposes using stablecoins for instant settlements so that companies do not need to hold large sums in accounts across different countries in advance. For this, it already has RLUSD, a U.S. dollar stablecoin with a market capitalization exceeding $1.5 billion already.
The text also provides a list of major fintech companies and banks that have already implemented the new Ripple Payments solutions. Among them are Amino Bank, CorpPay, Banco Unial, AltPayNet, as well as Elfred, ECIB, MassPay and Cambio Real.
Many roles of XRP in Ripple Payments expansion
XRP, in this context, plays several roles. In particular, it acts as a universal bridge. For example, to instantly transfer money from one currency to another, the system needs an intermediary with high liquidity, and here XRP is used as a neutral asset that is briefly converted into fiat to move across borders without the involvement of the corresponding banks.
Further, XRP performs a liquidity-provisioning function. This implies the use of XRP so that instead of businesses freezing millions of dollars in accounts across different countries, Ripple uses XRP to provide liquidity on demand.
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Finally, the use of XRP within the Ripple Payments network allows transactions to be conducted for fractions of a cent and within seconds, which is cheaper than traditional systems, such as SWIFT. It is also important that all new services, including virtual accounts and custodial storage, will operate on top of the XRP Ledger.
Put simply, Ripple Payments is a polished business-facing application and legal framework, while XRP and RLUSD are the engines under the hood that technically make these fast and low-cost transfers possible.