Not a Ripple… a wave!

What a couple of days Ripple (XRP) has had!  On Tuesday it was trading around the 34c range it’s been dancing around for some time and its now at $1.49 at the time of writing this article.  That is over 430% in a little over 2 days…  So it begs the question… why?

From cryptocoinnews:

“Earlier today, on December 13, Japanese mainstream media outlet Nikkei reported that major banks in Japan and South Korea are set to begin the testing of Ripple blockchain and its solutions on Friday. The aim of the joint project is to reduce the cost involved in international funds transfer by nearly 30 percent.

Since the beginning of 2017, Ripple Labs have made significant process in assisting major banks and financial institutions to adopt the Ripple blockchain technology. Banks based in Japan, in particular, quickly embraced the technology of Ripple, forming a consortium of 61 corporations.

In July, Ripple global head of strategic accounts Marcus Treacher said:

“We commend these banks in Japan for taking a giant step forward on behalf of their customers. This is a great example of a regional banks converging into a global real-time payments network for the greater good.”

Ripple Labs and its partner banks in Japan and South Korea are planning to continue the testing of Ripple technologies in the long-term and implement the Ripple blockchain at a larger scale by early 2018.

According to Nikkei, Japanese banks have already developed Ripple-based systems to process global payments on its blockchain network. Cross-border payments between South Korean and Japanese banks will be begin on January 31, if pilot tests throughout December are successfully conducted.

As reported in September, SBI Ripple Asia first announced its foray into instant international blockchain payments to South Korean banks.

“South Korea is one of the most active markets worldwide when it comes to blockchain innovation and trading of digital assets. With trade flows into and out of the country totaling $960 billion every year, we also see a high end growing demand for Ripple’s frictionless payments solution in the country,” said Takashi Okita, SBI Ripple Asia chief executive.”

We reported last month how the banks are taking up both Ripple and Ethereum.  At the time of writing that article Ether was at $450 and is now over double that at $960.