Financal services company Western Union is experimenting with the Ripple blockchain and corresponding XRP cryptocurrency, according to CEO Hikmet Ersek.
Ersek informed analysts of the Ripple tests during a conference call on February 13, noting that the company is considering ways to use Ripple to settle transactions and for capital optimization. A Western Union spokesperson told Fortune the company is also experimenting with XRP, Ripple’s native cryptocurrency.
Ripple confirmed the relationship with Western Union. “We’ve been testing different products with Western Union for a while,” the company wrote in a statement to Bloomberg News on February 14. “We’re excited about our work towards a pilot implementation of xRapid, which uses XRP in payment flows.”
Western Union’s Ripple tests aren’t the first example of a major finance company experimenting with cryptocurrency, nor is Western Union the first to look specifically into Ripple. Just this week, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) — the central bank for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — signed an agreement to bring Ripple’s blockchain software, XCurrent, to banks in the country.
However, Western Union is one of the few to experiment with XRP, which could help Ripple become an even bigger player in the crypto market.
Although losing 22% of its value against bitcoin, Ripple could be showing encouraging signs of stability.
Key takeaways
Ripple stabilises against the US$ late in the week
Ripple price slides in value against bitcoin
Increasing confidence for Ripple Labs if stability continues
The stable end to this week’s trading will have the market and Ripple Labs up and about. As has been noted in previous weekly analyses, price stability is essential for successful roll out of xRapid. The last 90 days have been extremely volatile for the price of Ripple (XRP).
That has placed question marks over whether xRapid is suitable for cross-border payments between banks. But this week's price stability makes putting forward the business case for xRapid more simple. Ripple Labs will be looking forward to XRP price stability becoming a mainstay.
While XRP has gained some stability against the US dollar, XRP has lost 22% of its value against bitcoin from its week-high. With Lightning Network still gathering pace on Mainnet, XRP will become increasingly challenged as a market leader in cross-border payments.
Price movements
XRP had an early week breakaway from the peloton, moving to US$1.30 shortly into the trading week, according to pricing information provided by CoinMarketCap. The high was short lived and a dip in trading volumes seemed to accompany a serious decline in price set in.
XRP hit a week-low of US$0.93 but quickly rebounded with a surge in trading volume. Cooling market concerns, the price of XRP began to show some signs of stability. During midweek trading XRP was priced between US$1 and US$1.10.