ambcrypto.com
The Philippines has been one of the key focus areas for Ripple, one of the world’s leading fintech firms. The firm that utilizes XRP to settle cross-border payments, which is faster, cheaper and frictionless than other service providers, partnered with SendFriend in order to establish a proper base in the country. The reason behind Ripple’s current agenda of setting a strong foothold in the Philippines is the approx. $11.09 billion remittances between the US and the country on a yearly basis.
Kevin Mole, VP of Product Marketing at Ripple, spoke about the same during an interview with Ripple Drop. He said,
“The types of payments that people are making into these countries like Mexico and Philippines from US and Europe and parts of Asia are really to cover necessities [….] So, this is a really high-impact cross-border flow and the first of many corridors that we will open up this year.”
SendFriend is a next-generation remittance service and according to the firm, it is currently the “smartest way to send money to the Philippines.” The service provider established a partnership with Ripple last year, with the firm agreeing to leverage xRapid, a product of Ripple’s that uses XRP for settling cross-border payments.
Notably, SendFriend has managed to keep up to its promise of going live with xRapid this month. The remittance provider confirmed on Twitter that they have gone live with xRapid on June 27. This news comes days after the service provider announced its launch in New Jersey. SendFriend announced on Twitter,
“We’re all excited for our launch, and today is the Day (for New Jersey)! Join thousands of Filipinos and come out to the Philippine American Friendship Committee Parade and check out our booth – We will be here all day!”
Consistentbenny, a Redditor, said,
“While it’s still a small corridor for now – New Jersey to the Philippines only – SendFriend is working hard to roll out across the US as soon as possible.”