Payment’s solution company Ripple revealed the launch of a new corridor between Japan and the Philippines. This is the company’s first On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), a payment solution leveraging token XRP, in Japan.

The corridor has been launched in collaboration with SBI Remit, one of the country’s most prominent money transfer provided, according to Ripple, and the leading mobile wallet for the Philippines, Coins.ph. The payment solution will connect the wallet with the digital exchange platform SBI VC Trade on RippleNet.

Thus, people from these countries can use this Ripple payment channel to benefit from fast, low-cost, and cross-border money transactions. Consumers in Japan can eliminate the need for pre-funding transactions and cut their costs to send money from this country to the Philippines.

Therefore, consumers and entities in Japan can access a tool to access capital with a fast and low-cost bridge between the countries and potentially drive the expansion of their payments business, Ripple added in a press release. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO at Ripple, celebrated the launch of the new corridor:

Hugely excited about our newest ODL corridor — Japan is one of our largest markets. With regulatory clarity and innovative partners like SBI, the region is ready for a crypto-enabled future.

General Manager of RippleNet at Ripple, Asheesh Birla, called this partnership a major milestone in what is the company’s “largest markets”. Birla added:

We are excited to partner with forward looking companies like SBI that see the value in blockchain technology and to support them in preparing for a crypto-enabled future.

The payment corridor and the expansion of the cooperation between SBI and Ripple seek to become an alternative in Japan. The country has one of the highest cross-border payment fees, according to data provided by the World Bank, with a 10.5% average cost of sending remittances.

In contrast, it cost citizens in Canada, France, the United States, Italy, and others, around a 5.92% fee to send remittances. In addition, Japan is experiencing two potential long-term growth trends with the surge in cross-border e-commerce and the Filipino diaspora, Ripple claims.

Further data provided by the payments company indicates that the Philippines sent over $1.8 billion in 2020 alone. Thus, they project a rise in the demand for cost-efficient, high-frequency, and cross-border payments. The Representative Director of SBI Remit, Nobuo Ando said:

We see tremendous potential in leveraging blockchain technology to transform not only the way payment transactions are made but in how we manage our business by unlocking trapped capital. The launch of ODL in Japan is just the start, and we look forward to continuing to push into the next frontier of financial innovation (…).

The payments solutions company recently published its Q2 XRP Markets report. Monica Long, General Manager of RippleX, claimed that this period saw “4 of the highest volume days for XRP ever recorded” with new liquidity and other products.

At the time of writing, XRP trades at $0,70 with a 23% profit in the daily chart and a 13.1% profit in the past week. With many more use cases leveraging XRP, the token seems poised to increase its demand and adoption creating more potential catalyzers for future appreciation.

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