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3rd-Biggest Thai Bank Teases Tantalizing News for Ripple (XRP) Bulls

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Benjamin Vitáris
Last Updated

By CCN: Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand’s third-largest financial institution, quietly teased some tantalizing news that should kick the Ripple  (XRP) rumor mill into high gear.

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SCB Thailand Taps Ripple for Blockchain Payments

Already, SCB Thailand launched a blockchain platform that uses the Ripple company’s xCurrent system to facilitate cheaper cross-border money transfers.

Now, the Thai financial institution also hinted that there would be a further announcement about SCB using XRP directly via the xRapid payment system.

 

Major Thai Bank Could Integrate Ripple Cryptocurrency

Last week, a sharp-sighted Twitter user spotted  an update to the bank’s SCB Easy app in the App Store stating that users are now able to send funds abroad “at the cheapest rates via Ripple.”

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On May 22, the bank confirmed  that they are using blockchain technology for payment transactions via Ripple, but not with the XRP cryptocurrency – yet.

This information suggests that the SCB is currently using Ripple’s xCurrent payment system that facilitates quick, low-cost cross-border transactions for its users.

The xCurrent product serves as an alternative to SWIFT where money transfers are conducted in fiat. On the other hand, xRapid uses XRP crypto tokens to offer on-demand liquidity to make transactions cheaper for enterprise users.

If the SCB does dive headfirst into cryptocurrency transfers, it would be a major bull signal for Ripple (XRP) investors.

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SCB Uses Ripple’s ‘Multi-Hop’ Blockchain Feature

While the hint that it will dive headfirst into cryptocurrency is new, SCB has partnered with Ripple for nearly a year as it builds out its blockchain payment system.

According to a Sept. 2018 blog post , SCB was the first bank to use RippleNet’s “multi-hop” feature that allows the Thai bank to “settle frictionless payments on behalf of other financial institutions on the network.”

The multi-hop feature’s main benefit is that financial institutions must no longer maintain a bilateral relationship (a direct one-to-one connection) with each other to settle a payment.

The post explained further:

“Using multi-hop, SCB will be able to receive and forward on a payment without a bilateral relationship between the originator and beneficiary institutions.”

According to Ripple, the multi-hop feature results in cheaper and easier payments.

Banks: The Key to Crypto Adoption?

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Are institutions like Siam Commercial Bank the key to crypto adoption? | Source: Shutterstock

Ripple continues to onboard financial institutions and payment processors, having recently inked  its 200th enterprise client.

Earlier this month, Ripple announced a partnership with Ria Money Transfer, the world’s second largest service provider in the remittance industry with a yearly volume of $40 billion. About that same time, the San Francisco-based blockchain startup scored another partnership with the Saudi British Bank (SABB).

Despite the company’s recent achievements, many in the crypto community dislike Ripple, arguing that its network is centralized and the company stands athwart what Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned when he launched Bitcoin to give control to the users instead of banks.

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Benjamin Vitáris

Ben is a crypto journalist and copywriter who has a great passion for blockchain technology. He believes that decentralization empowers people to take charge of their lives, and gives back what we desired for a long time: financial freedom. Follow him on Twitter @BenjaminVitaris   or email him directly at dzsuvalance(at)gmail.com. Benjamin is crafting crypto content from his home office in Budapest, Hungary.
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