Bank of America Says Ripple Making Waves in Cross-Border Payments With Blockchain

The Bank of America (BofA) says that Ripple is an example of a company that is making an impact with blockchain and its use case for cross-border payments.

In a recent report, BofA analysts say Ripple is an exception to blockchain’s relatively modest effect on international payments systems, particularly in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

“Another technology that is having an effect on real-time activity in APAC, albeit to a lesser degree than APIs (application programming interface), is blockchain. It’s used as an underlying security measure in certain transactions, but it’s not having the level of success that its preceding hype had suggested, notes Venkat.

It has played an important role in helping to digitize trade documentation, as the technical basis of the smart contract, but in cross-border payments, the work of Ripple is a possible exception, its impact has been limited, he comments. The reason for this is the rapid emergence of SWIFT GPI (global payments innovation) as the favored solution for tracking and tracing cross-border payments.”

The banking giant also says that APAC, as one of the main regions blazing a trail in financial technology, is likely on a path toward abandoning physical cash.

“By presenting every digital option, from consumer payments via QR codes on mobile devices, to real-time corporate treasury and wholesale settlements, to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and crypto, APAC is heralding new opportunities for all stakeholders to finally abandon hard cash.”