On Wednesday (5 September 2018), payment service provider firm TransferGo announced via Finextra that it was using Ripple’s technology to enable payments from Europe to India in under 30 minutes.
According to the information on TransferGo’s website:
“TransferGo is an international cheap money transfer company for migrant workers who want to send money back to their families without paying excessive bank fees. It was founded in 2012 and has offices in Lithuania and London, UK. Using the innovative system of TransferGo, migrants can transfer money abroad using a digital account-to-account business model, which means that money does not have to leave the country as funds are paid in and out locally. “
TransferGo offers several options cross-border payments: “Free” (slowest; 2-3 business days); “Standard” (tomorrow, by 18:30); “Today” (by 18:30 the same day); “Standard” (tomorrow by 18:30); “Express” (tomorrow by 11:00); and “Now” (within 30 minutes).
Here is the interface you see when using their website to make a payment from the UK to India:
TransferGo is saying that Ripple’s technology (presumably xVia and/or xCurrent rather than xRapid since xRapid is still not ready for production use) enables the “Now” service from anywhere in Europe to India. Also, the same technology is allowing it to offer a “Free” service to India (as long as you are not in a hurry and are prepared to wait 2-3 business days).
Daumantas Dvilinskas, Founder and CEO of TransferGo, said:
“We’re delighted to be one of the first companies in the market to offer our customers real-time money transfers… by using Ripple’s revolutionary blockchain technology, we’re able to establish real-time communication between us and our banking partners in India, allowing TransferGo customers to send money to family and friends or make international payments immediately.”
TransferGo says that Europe to India is a multi-billion payment corridor, and Ripple’s high adoption rate in India made it the “perfect choice” for the first launch of this service, and that “the success of these real-time transfers proves blockchain provides tangible customer value and opens up new horizons for TransferGo to develop additional products and services.”
As for Ripple, Marcus Treacher, its Senior Vice President of Customer Success, said:
“At Ripple, we believe blockchain technology has the power to make money move as quickly as information moves today. TransferGo is a great example of a forward-thinking payment provider that’s leaning in to new technology to facilitate real-time, cross-border money transfers for their customers. That’s a big step forward.”
On Twitter, “XRP Research Center” agreed with the opinion that TransferGo must be using xCurrent rather than xRapid for the Europe-India payment corridor:
Also, crypto is momentaneously forbidden by India's Central Bank.
They're preparing the ground with xCurrent, waiting for the partial ban to be lifted.
TransferGo already supports XRP trading.
— XRP Research Center (@XrpCenter) September 5, 2018
