Ripple and UAE Exchange to Rollout Blockchain based Payments in Q1 2019

UAE Exchange and U.S. startup Ripple to start cross-border remittances to Asia via blockchain by the first quarter of 2019, Reuters reported.

UAE has been in the forefront in rolling out blockchain based solutions. Last month, UAE and Saudi Arabia planned to launch their own cryptocurrency. Dubai Blockchain Platform is also the first government-endorsed blockchain platform-as-a-service in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Founded by Indian billionaire B.R. Shetty, UAE Exchange is part of Finablr group, a full-service Payments, and Foreign Exchange solutions, provider.  Finablr portfolio includes Travelex Holdings, Xpress Money, Ditto Bank, Remit2India, and other businesses.

In February 2018, UAE Exchange joined RippleNet and announced to enable instant, seamless and real-time cross-border payments, making UAE Exchange the largest payment solutions provider in the Middle East to use Ripple’s blockchain technology.

RippleNet includes more than 100 member banks and financial institutions, enables messaging, clearing and settlement of transactions. Other major financial institutions joined RippleNet includes National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) RAKB.AD and Kuwait Finance House (KFH.KW) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L).

In an interview to Reuters, Executive director, and Chief Executive Officer at Finablr, Promoth Manghat said, “We expect to go live with Ripple by Q1, 2019 with one or two Asian banks. This is for remittances to start with, from across the globe into Asia.”

Ripple's xRapid product uses XRP and XRP ledger while XRP is a cryptocurrency generally traded on different crypto exchanges around the world.