Ripple’s Global Head of Banking, Marjan Delatinne will be speaking about how technology is changing the foundation of cross-border payments and our global economic systems at the upcoming Stockholm member meeting on 18-19 September. Join us to hear more about her thoughts!
Is cash still widely used in cross-border payments?
In emerging markets like SE Asia and India, sending cross-border payments have traditionally been cash-based with people relying on mobile devices to do so. Because these economies skipped correspondent banking, there’s been a huge rise in the use of smartphone payments and “super apps” that allow cash payouts in local currency. For example, Go-Jek processes more than 100 million transactions for 25 million users every month, and Grab handles more than 6 million ride orders per day. Given the sheer volume these super apps handle on a daily basis, it is imperative they improve how value is being transferred between users — especially to those in other countries.
What opportunities does blockchain bring to further digitalize payments?
Today’s payments infrastructure is still living in the past with current financial systems built on outdated principles from the 1970s. Blockchain technology addresses fundamental pain points with the current system including cost, speed and transparency. At its core, the inherent use case of blockchain is to move and record value, which is why we at Ripple are focused on that use case. Our vision is to enable the world to move money like information moves today – the Internet of Value.