The Clearing House, a known Ripple (XRP) partner company, is working with Wells Fargo on a cross-border payments system, “specifically designed to support digital commerce,” that has the potential to one day replace SWIFT.
The system being developed is named “Real Time Payments (RTP)” and would provide a real-time transfer of digital currency between accounts that use the service at Wells Fargo. A service agreement has been posted online that shows how the RTP project might directly compete with SWIFT’s domination of the cross-border payments market.
Clearing House says that RTP service is being created “for the digital, on the go – way we live and work today.” They also said that in contrast to competitor payment systems, RTP has rea-time postings, immediate confirmation and a secure two-way messaging service. Transfers are immediate and final.
Currently, the RTP service can only be used for small payments under $5,000 via a cap set by Wells Fargo, however it has the capacity for extremely large transfers in the future. Many speculate that SWIFT is an outdated system that may one day be replaced by cryptocurrencies, specifically for cross-border payments. Ripple XRP was designed specifically with this task in mind and with their current partnership with Clearing House it begs the question, how is XRP involved?