Ripple Expands RippleNet in Korea, Partners with Major Financial Firms

Earlier today, the largest blockchain payment firm, Ripple network published an official announcement based on their plans to leverage payment solutions, particularly for their Korean customers. In this regard, the Ripple network informed the community that RippleNet has partnered with major financial actors in Korea to facilitate smooth, efficient, low cost and technologically advanced remittances within the region.

Ripple Expands RippleNet in Korea

According to the announcement, Ripple network’s partnership with those four non-bank remittance companies including Sentbe, Hanpass, and WireBarley, aims to solve the problem of high bank charges paid by Koreans during remittance transfers. The arrangement will likely bring transaction fees to about 90% decline and bring the pace of transactions to a record high.

“South Korea is a hotbed of fintech innovation, and we’re committed to grow our customer base and presence,” said Emi Yoshikawa, Sr. Director of Global Operations.

“Since the Korean government started licensing payment providers for remittance in 2017, we have witnessed how Korean payment providers dramatically improved payments experience for their customers, and we are pleased to be part of their on-going efforts.”

RippleNet Korean Customers Can Pay Less For Their Transfers

The partner companies in this supposed mutualism with Ripple Network are big names in the global remittance industry.

Sentbe is a money transfer service provider that uses cutting-edge technology to offer an easier, faster, and more convenient way to transfer money abroad. Sentbe focuses on the South- and Northeast Asia corridor, including The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and China, and saves their customers up to 95% in remittance fees over banks.

Hanpass, on the other hand, focuses on simplifying the steps necessary for sending money in and out of Korea. The company enables its users to safely send money across borders without the hassle of creating local bank accounts in-person through a complex identification process. Moreover, Hanpass makes this possible by providing its users with an easy and secure mobile identification process.

Fintech startup, WireBarley provides mobile and online-based cross-border remittance services in APAC. The company was an early pioneer in the Australian remittance corridor and has since expanded to other countries including Korea, New Zealand, Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States.

The partnership is particularly possible owing to the fact that rules changes along monetary policies in 2017 allow non-banks companies to offer remittance services. Like Ripple has done with other companies to produce a blockchain-oriented payment gateway, it provides these companies with institutional level remittance technology and network connections to facilitate easy services.

XRP Collapses By 10% In Response!

It is quite discouraging to see Ripple’s underlying asset, XRP fall beyond 10% within the last 24 hours of Ripple’s partnership announcement. Under usual circumstances, the community expects to see a rise in price following an event of note. However, XRP responded quite sluggishly by falling down the charts and to such magnitudes as 10%. At the time of writing this piece, XRP is currently changing hands at $0.243.

Image Source – Ripple official blog