Ripple partners with Pyypl to deploy cross-border payment services in the Middle East

Ripple has announced that it would be partnering with international fintech company Pyypl to deploy the first-in-market On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) services in the Middle East using XRP.

While the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs is confirmed to stretch to 2022, the San Francisco-based blockchain company seems to look overseas more eagerly. Ripple is now intensively forging connections with fintech stakeholders in the Middle East.

According to Team Ripple, the UAE and Saudi Arabia sent around $78 billion in remittances in total last year. Moreover, the MENA region contains two of the world’s top three remittance corridors. That is why Ripple and Pyypl’s project will start in the UAE.

“Ripple was the first enterprise company to leverage crypto to tackle the trillion-dollar challenges with cross-border payments,” said in a blog post by Team Ripple. “By using ODL, financial institutions and Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) can now leverage previously trapped, pre-funded capital to grow and scale their business.”

However, it’s noteworthy that Ripple’s XRP will not be held in the UAE, as well as the UAE dirham [AED] will not be part of the payment flow.

Meantime, Pyypl claimed it aims to reduce users’ dependence on “costly pre-funded accounts” needed for cross-border remittances in the MENA region.

“We’re excited to be Ripple’s first partner of choice to bring the deployment of ODL to the Middle East. This enables our ever-increasing number of users to deliver remittances instantly and cost-effectively,” said Antti Arponen, co-founder and CEO of Pyypl. “We’ve also reduced our inefficient use of capital through ODL, and look forward to an exciting rollout of its capabilities across the region.”

Pyypl also has a license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s [ADGM] Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

In 2020, Ripple put down more roots in the Middle East, placing a regional headquarters in Dubai. Among its clients in the region is the Qatar National Bank.

“All of this is driving a record year for Ripple in MENA, with RippleNet already logging four times the transaction volume year-to-date versus all of 2020,” stated the American blockchain company.

A few days ago, the Al Ansari foreign exchange of the UAE announced a partnership with Ripple to enable same-day remittances across borders in Malaysian ringgit [MYR], with the help of another money transfer company – MoneyMatch.

Ripple also said it would be using RippleNet Cloud for the same. In a press release, a RippleNet official called the MENA region “critical” for the company, attributing the local regulatory environment as “welcoming,” according to the company’s statement.