Ripple, Brazil’s Travelex Bank Add Crypto-Based X-Border Payments

Aiming to use cryptocurrency to enable cheaper, faster cross-border payments, enterprise blockchain and crypto solution provider Ripple has teamed up with Travelex Bank to launch RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution in Brazil.

Ripple’s ODL solution allows customers to send money across borders at a low cost and instantly, and Travelex Bank is a 100% digital bank that operates exclusively in foreign exchange (FX), according to a Thursday (Aug. 18) press release.

“From Day One, we’ve focused on building solutions that deliver real utility and we are excited to collaborate with an innovative partner like Travelex Bank to help move money more efficiently for the benefit of its customers across Brazil,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in the release.

With Ripple’s ODL solution, Travelex Bank will initially support payments between Mexico and Brazil and plans to later support more passages and use cases, the release stated.

“Focused on [electronic FX] transactions, we embrace tech to offer the best solutions to individuals and companies of all sizes and for the most diverse sectors,” Travelex Bank Brazil CEO Ana Tena said in the release.

Brazil is a promising market for these services because $780 billion worth of payments are sent into the country each year and because its government has been open to regulating the crypto industry in a way that both protects consumers and encourages innovation, according to the release.

The country has become a leader in the Latin American payments ecosystem, with six out of 10 Brazilians using the Central Bank of Brazil’s instant payments platform, Pix, and with more exotic transaction methods such as cryptocurrency also gaining steam, according to the “Digitizing Payments in Latin America Playbook,” a PYMNTS and Kushki collaboration.

Read more: How Brazil Serves as a Payment Innovation Blueprint for Latin America

Brazilians bought more than $4 billion in cryptocurrency last year, according to the Central Bank of Brazil.

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