Global payment company Ripple launched its first On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service implementation in Japan. The launch was done in partnership with SBI Remit, a Japanese money transfer provider, and Philippine crypto exchange Coins.ph.
Ripple, SBI, Coins.ph Partner Up to Launch On-Demand Liquidity
Ripple announced on Wednesday “the launch of Ripplenet’s first live On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service implementation in Japan” in collaboration with Japanese SBI Remit Co. Ltd. and Philippine Coins.ph.
SBI Holdings, which is also an investor and shareholder of Ripple, independently announced Wednesday that SBI Remit and crypto exchange SBI VC Trade have launched “Japan’s first international remittance service using crypto assets” in partnership with Ripple Labs. SBI Remit, a subsidiary of SBI Fintech Solutions, is one of the largest money transfer companies in Japan. It has been a Ripplenet user since 2017.
Coins.ph, a product of Betur Inc., is a crypto exchange and a leading mobile wallet service in the Philippines that is regulated by the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The announcement stated:
“This expanded partnership will see SBI Remit connect with Coins.ph and digital asset exchange platform SBI VC Trade on Ripplenet for faster and more affordable cross-border payments from Japan to the Philippines.”
SBI commented on the operational flow that after a remittance request is initiated with SBI Remit, SBI VC Trade sends XRP in real time to Coins.ph, which converts the cryptocurrency to the Philippine peso to pay the remittance recipient.
The price of XRP rallied over 16% on Wednesday following the news. At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $0.704 according to CoinMarketCap.
According to Ripple “The Filipino diaspora is currently the third largest in Japan,” noting that remittance flows from Japan to the Philippines sent by overseas Filipino workers in 2020 totaled approximately $1.8 billion. In addition, Japan has one of the highest cross-border payment fees in the world. The company detailed:
“This is Ripple’s first On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service implementation in Japan, setting the stage to drive more adoption of crypto-enabled services in the region. By leveraging the digital asset XRP to eliminate pre-funding, the two companies can also free up capital and accelerate the expansion of their own payments businesses.”
Nobuo Ando, Representative Director of SBI Remit, commented on the launch:
“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, beyond real-time payments in just the Philippines, but to other parts of the region as well.”
Meanwhile, Ripple Labs is still fighting an on-going lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against payment giant. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has revealed, however, that the company could launch IPO after the SEC lawsuit is resolved.
