Ripple announces Bittrex, Bitso and Coins.ph as preferred digital asset exchanges

Blockchain startup Ripple has announced that Bittrex, Bitso and Coins.ph will act as preferred digital asset exchanges for xRapid transactions.

Powered by XRP, xRapid is Ripple’s cross border payments solution for payment providers and other financial institutions that want to minimize liquidity costs while improving their customer experience. The company underscored the need for digital asset exchange partners around the world for xRapid’s success.

“Bittrex will act as the preferred digital asset exchange for xRapid transactions that move through US Dollars. In addition, Bitso and Coins.ph will be preferred for Mexican Pesos and Philippine Pesos, respectively,” Ripple said.

Through these partner exchanges, xRapid payments would move from one currency – into XRP – and back into another currency in a fast and efficient manner.

Taking the example of an xRapid payment flow from the U.S. to Mexico, Ripple explained that a financial institution, with an account with Bittrex, will initiate a payment in the USD via xRapid which is instantly converted into XRP on Bittrex. The payment amount in XRP is settled over the XRP Ledger. Bitso, through its Mexican Peso liquidity pool, will then instantly convert the XRP into fiat, which is then settled into a destination bank account.

xRapid was launched in beta late last summer. In May 2018, Ripple announced that financial institutions that participated in xRapid pilots saw a savings of 40-70 percent on average. They also saw faster settlements – an average xRapid payment took a little over two minutes, compared to existing average of 2-3 days when sending cross-border payments.

“We’ve seen several successful xRapid pilots already, and as we move the product from beta to production later this year, these exchange partners will allow us to provide financial institutions with the comfort and assurance that their payments will move seamlessly between different currencies,” said Cory Johnson, Chief Market Strategist at Ripple.