Major workforce and fleet payments provider Fleetcor will utilize Ripple’s native cryptocurrency XRP in a cross-border payments trial.

Fleetcor, through its recently acquired B2B international payments provider Cambridge, is the latest company client to pilot xRapid, a Ripple product which uses its native XRP cryptocurrency to enable financial institutions with real-time liquidity. With over 13,000 business clients globally, Cambridge processes some $20 billion in annual cross-border payments.

The xRapid pilot will see Cambridge use XRP in its payment flows using the XRP Ledger blockchain. The foray into using Ripple’s native token follows Cambridge previously exploring Ripple’s xCurrent, an enterprise software used for financial messaging between banks and payments providers.

Cambridge is now the sixth financial services firm to pilot xRapid, joining the likes of MoneyGram and Western Union. A little over a month ago, Ripple inked deals with IDT and MercuryFX to pilot xRapid to prove its low-cost liquidity in real-time payments as an alternative to traditional nostro accounts. Soon after, MoneyGram – the world’s second-largest money transfer provider – also began its own pilot of the same product. Earlier this month, Ripple confirmed that Western Union had also begun testing XRP in its payment flows.

Underlining the efficiency in utilizing a cryptographic token over a blockchain, Ripple business development director Danny Aranda said:

“We’re focused on working with partners like Cambridge that understand the benefits of digital assets and are serious about using XRP to overcome the inefficiencies in the global payment system.”

Other major use cases of Ripple’s blockchain products see Spanish banking giant Santander gearing a roll-out of a personal payments app for retail customers, due to go live in Spain, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Poland before the end of March. Using xCurrent, Santander says its retail customers from those countries will be able to facilitate payments in “3 clicks and 40 seconds”. Latin America’s largest bank Unibanco, Middle East remittance giant UAE Exchange and China’s LianLian have all partnered Ripple in recent months for cross-border payments over the San Francisco-based startup’s blockchain tech.

Another noteworthy endeavor sees Saudi Arabia’s central bank piloting xCurrent among a number of regional banks domestically.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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