eZforex.com, a provider of foreign currency for travelers through financial institutions and cutting-edge international payments solutions, announced Tuesday (April 25) that it is expanding its suite of global payments solutions to include Ripple’s blockchain technology.
In a press release, eZforex.com said Ripple, a San Francisco–based company, connects banks around the world by offering real-time cross-border payment services to its customers using blockchain and distributed ledger technology. eZforex.com said that after one year of development, eZforex, in collaboration with Ripple and Star One Credit Union, was able to deliver live payments to four continents on April 10, 2017.
“This is a major step forward. Now all financial institutions, regardless of size, can offer their customers access to the safest, lowest-cost funds transfer technology,” said Robert Crandall, former CEO of American Airlines, Inc. and an eZforex.com investor, in the press release.
eZforex, Ripple and Star One Credit Union featured their success story of launching the first blockchain payments in the U.S. at the NACHA Payments Conference in Austin on April 24, the company said.
“The mainstreaming of blockchain technology will change the cross-border payment landscape for banks and credit unions in the United States sooner than anyone predicted,” noted Jorge Jimenez, CEO of eZforex.com, Inc., in the same press release, while Lynn Brubaker, Star One Credit Union’s VP of deposit services, added, “Our members are going to greatly benefit from the speed, high security and low prices that blockchain technology provides for our international remittances.”
Earlier this year Axis Bank, the nation’s third largest bank, revealed it will use the blockchain-based payment network of Ripple to facilitate cross-border transactions. Reports noted that the move means Axis Bank can provide real-time settlement of those payments.
“We are committed to using innovation in technology to make banking simple and convenient for our customers,” the bank’s managing director, V Srinivasan, said in a statement.