During the pilot tests, payments between Thailand and Japan were processed in seconds, a process that previously took days. SCB is not going to implement XRP so far
Another important bank decided to venture to use Ripple’s blockchain technology, which seeks to facilitate cross-border payments and execute them in a few minutes. This time it is the oldest bank in Thailand, this is, the Siam Commercial Bank (SCB).
“Send money abroad today at the cheapest rates through Ripple”, that is the attractive announcement that the banking institution published at the beginning of June in its Twitter account. With this comment, the first rumors about this bank’s plans to use the Ripple blockchain platform started.
The financial institution was conducting proofs for the issuance of payments between Thailand and Japan. These payments made through blockchain technology were processed in just seconds and not in several days, as is the case when using traditional media. This blockchain advantage makes it possible to reduce costs.
The Thai bank will be based on the blockchain technology developed by the company located in Palo Alto. The systems were going to use its native XRP token, according to a SCB’s tweet. But the institution changed the information and deleted that tweet on June 7th.
“We are going to use Ripple’s blockchain technology. XRP system will be announced very soon. Please follow our official schedule on social media again”, SCB said on Twitter, last June 5th.
“We are so sorry for the previous information of the previous post. As of now we have no plans on using XRP”, the institution affirmed this Friday 7th. Instead of this, the blockchain development itself continues.
Banks of the World with Ripple
Ripple already has a presence in Thailand. Since 2014, Thai financial institutions have set their sights on the use of blockchain technology and cryptoactives under regulatory policies, which would be consistent with the expectations of banks and cryptoactive investors.
In fact, the nation promoted the creation of a 22-member coalition called “The Blockchain Community of Thailand” in order to explore the uses of blockchain technology. In addition, last February, Ripple partnered with UAE Exchange (a United Arab Emirates based company) and Unimoni; two remittance companies that also sought to take advantage of this technology. The Bank of Ayudhya, known as Krungsri, recently became the first bank in Thailand to use a blockchain to conduct international transfers in real time.
At least 200 financial institutions around the world have already incorporated Ripple’s blockchain technology to conduct transactions. Among these banks that offer cross-border payments based on Ripple’s blockchain are the Saudi British Bank and the private bank of India Federal Bank, which uses RippleNet technology, so that those who do not live in the Asian country can transfer money to their families in real time.
However, not all financial institutions have been successful when testing Ripple’s technology. In 2018, Western Union CEO, Hikmet Ersek, said that, after using XRP-based integrations for six months, the payment service had not yet seen a benefit. This could happen because of not doing the necessary promotion to the tool or because, perhaps, the users are preparing to adopt cryptoactives and handle them properly.
The truth is that Ripple maintains its objective of transforming the international payment industry. This is of paramount importance since a decision made, such in this case, by an institution like the Siam Commercial Bank could motivate more establishments to use distributed ledger technology in that country.
By María Rodríguez
