Ripple’s MoneyTap counts seven new bank participants for payment platform

The payment platform that Ripple launched in Southeast Asia MoneyTap recently added another seven new banks as participants. The transfer service is seeing quite a bit of success in the region after it added 13 institutions last month, bringing the total number to 20. Ripple is basically forming relationships with banks left and right, and this is a strategy meant for longevity.

Among the new banks to join the rising payment star are “Chikubo, Ashiga, Towa, Shimane, Toho and Fukushima Banks,” Ethereum World News reports. XRP Research Center also confirmed the new additions in a social media post, as well.

“SBI Group announces that SEVEN additional Japanese banks (20 in the aggregate as of today) have agreed to invest in Money Tap, Co. Ltd, a brand-new company operating a domestic settlement system for digital payments that Run on Ripple,” the post reads.

The success that Ripple is seeing with MoneyTap in the region with regards to forming relationships with banks is seen as crucial for several reasons. Among the most obvious is how it is essentially turning potential rivals into partners. The rise of payment options like the San Francisco-based firm has been squeezing more traditional institutions and some of them are now banding together to fight back.

MoneyTap is powered by the xCurrent platform and is meant to provide money transfer services between banks and users. Unfortunately, it does not offer ways to transfer XRP crypto coins. As of now, the platform only allows for fiat transfers and is the result of the partnership between SBI and Ripple.

The new service essentially made money transfer a lot easier through the power of blockchain. Instead of costing hundreds of dollars to conduct cross-border payments, MoneyTap allows for a much more affordable option. As of now, the goal is to make the total number of banks to join in to 61. Just 41 to go, then.