Last year at Swell, we first announced On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), which leverages the digital asset XRP as a bridge currency to eliminate the need for pre-funding in cross border payments. Since then, we have seen tremendous growth and customer interest with more than 7x the number of transactions using ODL from the end of Q1 to the end of October.
Today at Swell 2019, Ginger Baker, our Senior Director of Product, hosted a panel of ODL customers including goLance, Bitso, FlashFX and Interbank Peru to share thoughts on the rate of adoption of blockchain and digital asset technology, the impacts of ODL on business and the opportunities for growth.
Increase Adoption
Around the world, we are seeing widespread adoption of blockchain-based payments by financial service providers. Yet, to further fuel innovation and increase adoption, panelists describe a need to expedite and streamline services. “It’s been a long road for digital assets, but the end customer doesn’t necessarily need, or want, to know how their transactions are being handled in the back end. They want the transparency, low-cost and above all else, speed of transactions,” said Nicholas Steiger, CEO of FlashFX.
Building on this, Joisie Mantilla, Emerging Technologies Innovator at Interbank Peru, shared that in order to increase adoption, it is important to change the traditional thinking about how financial institutions enable cross-border transactions. “Banks are part of our culture. We want to improve banking technology and give underserved people an opportunity to change their relationships with banks. This will change an entire generation.” By leveraging ODL, our customers are doing just that.
ODL Impact
International payments, especially in emerging markets, require businesses to hold pre-funded accounts in destination currencies. It’s a costly endeavor that ties up resources. By leveraging the digital asset XRP, ODL frees up capital and guarantees the most competitive rates.
“Our customers are looking for the lowest cost and fastest service. ODL allows us to offer that. Payment efficiency is at the heart of our company. Since the beginning, Ripple has allowed us to drop our cost on the front end, giving us a strong competitive edge over our counterparts. Cost and speed made the decision for us to partner with Ripple,” explained Michael Brooks, Founder and CEO of goLance.
Steiger reiterated that ODL has allowed FlashFX to meet customer demands by providing new payment services, and encouraged the audience to join RippleNet to “open more ODL destinations as soon as possible,” a sentiment that Bárbara González Briseño, Bitso’s Head of Finance, shares.
Opportunity for Growth
“We want to see the network effects come into place in Mexico and beyond—connecting a country that’s been excluded for many years because of traditional systems. As more players come into the space, it creates more corridors and offers more opportunities for those who have been excluded and ignored,” said González Briseño.
There’s no better place or time to make this a reality. As Interbank’s Mantilla explained, “Swell is a great place to meet your future connections. All of the connections we’ve integrated with this year are connections we met at Swell last year. It’s about taking a chance on what the future might look like.” We couldn’t agree more.
To join the Swell 2019 conversation, visit Insights and follow along today on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook through tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 8.