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Ripple's long-awaited cryptocurrency product, which aims to make XRP the asset of choice for cross-border agreements between financial institutions, is finally approaching production through effective commercial application.
Sagar Sarbhai, who heads Ripple's regulatory relations in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions, told CNBC that the company believes that this product, dubbed xRapid, can be launched in just a month.
"I am very confident that in the next month or so you will see some good news getting to where we launch the product live in production," said Sarbhai.
Unlike the other blockchain products of the company, xRapid uses the XRP public cryptocurrency for regulation, which, according to Ripple, increases the speed of cross-border currency transfers.
CCN reported in August that Ripple had selected three cryptocurrency bags – Bittrex, Bits and Coins.ph – to serve as a preferred partner for the xRapid ecosystem, perhaps foreshadowing the commercial launch of the product.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse predicted that "dozens" of banks would use xRapid – and XRP extension – by the end of 2019 at the start of the year.
Sarbhai said that more than 120 banks and financial institutions located throughout the world are currently using the company's xCurrent product, which uses blockchain technology to reduce settlement times, but does not use XRP.
The challenge will be to convince those companies to switch to xRapid, even if many financial institutions remain cautious or even openly hostile towards cryptocurrency.
Elsewhere in the interview, Sarbhai said that regulators and other policymakers around the world are beginning to recognize the advantage of cryptocurrency – not just blockchain technology – which, according to him, will further improve the environment. for development in this technological field.
"A couple of years ago the narrative was: good, cryptic, bad blockchain," he said. "What we are seeing now is more and more regulators, politicians take the whole space in a single conjunction," he continued, adding, "So I think the narrative is luckily changing because politicians, regulators are seeing that there is a strong benefit that digital resources, cryptocurrencies bring in ".
Despite being launched in 2012, most XRPs are still owned by Ripple. The token, which traded up to $ 3.84 in January, saw a decline of 93%, according to OnChainFX.
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