Ripple (XRP) has announced that they are working with 61 Japanese banks to create a payment app that will enhance transaction times and reduce costs. The new app, which is called ‘Money Tap’ will allow Japanese banks to settle their domestic payments far more quickly than is currently possible. One of the biggest improvements is that the blockchain is running 24/7 so there is no need to wait for ‘business hours’ to get this type of thing done.
The mobile app will allow bank customers to send funds from their account to other accounts within the country.
Takashi Okita, the CEO of SBI Ripple Asia said in a statement, “Together with the trust, reliability, and reach of the bank consortium, we can remove friction from payments and create a faster, safer, and more efficient domestic payments experience for our customers.”
The app will initially be launched with support for three of the 61 banks, where it will run for several months, before rolling out to the remaining intuitions. It is expected that this rollout will occur later in 2018.
This is really quite a massive announcement for Ripple, though you wouldn’t know it from the price, which has slipped down to $.84. This drop is in line with what many other cryptocurrencies have seen during the first quarter of 2018, but for XRP supporters, is still disappointing. Ripple has had a lot of very positive news during this time, yet has continued to see significant loss in coin price.
