One of the most prominent blockchain platforms focused on large scale adoption of digital tokens is Ripple and its native cryptocurrency, XRP. While never short of crypto-community controversy and the sheer wraith of the XRP-army, Ripple has done its fair share in regards to global impact and adoption of distributed ledger technologies.

The platform has been working tirelessly to expand adoption in unexplored regions and industries and has struck several deals and partnerships with giant businesses corporations.

They recently added more to the story. Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is now expanding its use of Ripple’s cross-border payment solutions.

“Banking penetration is so low. People use cash. It’s convenient, it’s cheap. As a bank, we cannot reach 70 percent of the population. Even though people in Southeast Asia are very advanced smartphone users, when it’s time to pay, they don’t use their phones,” said Paul Arriyavat, the Chief Strategy Office at Siam Commercial Bank.

He then starts to talk about the relationship with Ripple. He stated:

“We invested in Ripple. We commercialized their technologies. They became our co-partners in solving these pain points I just mentioned. We actually solved pain points for Thai migrant workers that live in Japan. We helped them send money home through 30,000 ATM machines. Beyond that, people ask, ‘Ok, besides Thailand, what can we do?’ We looked at our presence in the regions. Cambodia, we have Vietnam, we have other countries. So we said, ‘Ok, let’s do that.’”

Siam Commercial Bank was Thailand's largest commercial bank (in total assets), as of 31 December 2018. SBI Remit, in collaboration with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), is using Ripple’s blockchain enterprise solution, xCurrent, to power real-time remittance payments between Japan and Thailand. This makes it possible for 47,000 Thai nationals living in Japan to send money home faster.

SBI Remit’s customers can use ATMs to instantly send money in JPY to a recipient’s SCB savings account in Thailand and receive funds in THB within seconds. Before offering this service, recipients were required to retrieve cash through an agent.

Ripple is not only making headlines in Asia but in Europe also. One can simply turn a blind eye but there is no way to ignore all of the advancements and futuristic positions that Ripple has set themselves up to be a prominent figure in the crypto asset ecosystem. While the prestigious partnerships list continues to grow, it is hard to refute just how far Ripple can go with everything they have done past, present and likely in the future.

Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna, had proposed to accept XRP in his country.

Excellent exchange of views with @chrislarsensf. Looking forward to the further development of @Ripple in #Luxembourg and #Europe. pic.twitter.com/M6xJAc7Fxn

— Pierre Gramegna (@pierregramegna) April 9, 2019