Ripple’s native token XRP has skyrocketed by nearly 50% in the past 48 hours as the blockchain startup plans to unveil its exciting feature in the next few days. According to Sagar Sarbhai, head of regulatory relations for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, the company is close to launching its next product that could help banks across the globe speed up cross-border payments.
“I am very confident that in the next 30 days or so, you will see some good news coming in where we launch the product live in production,” Sarbhai told CNBC.
xRapid, in simple terms, is a technology that allows banks and financial institutions across the world to reduce their liquidity costs while enabling real-time cross-border settlements. The product allows a bank, to convert their fiat currency into Ripple’s native token (XRP), which is then sent to the receiving party, and quickly converted to the recipient’s local currency.
Ripple’s price surge could be driven by optimism surrounding its plan
According to the CEO of cryptocurrency fund of hedge funds BitBull Capital Joe DiPasquale, XRP price surge could be driven by anticipation. “The main development fueling this drive is the upcoming xRapid release, which many believe, will lead to real-world usage of XRP and push the price even higher,” he said.
Joe’s sentiments were echoed by Jon Pearlstone, publisher of the popular newsletter CryptoPatterns. He said Ripple’s recent price surge could be as a result of the positive news. Earlier this year, Ripple Lab’s CEO Garlinghouse said dozens of baking giants across the world will be using Ripple by the end of next year. In fact, as of the writing of this post, over 100 banks have already partnered with Ripple. Some of these banks include the Bank of America, Santander, and America’s 9th largest bank PNC.
The price of XRP has improved by over 7000% from its original price.