On Wednesday, July 28, the XRP token price at the time reached $0.74, a monthly high. The token rose 14%, according to CoinGecko.
At the time of writing, the token is trading at around $0.73.
The price rise came as Ripple expanded in the Asia-Pacific region. The company announced the launch of a Japan–Philippines payment corridor based on the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution, which uses XRP as a bridge between fiat currencies.
Announcing our newest On-Demand Liquidity corridor in (drumroll please…) JAPAN 🇯🇵! https://t.co/xiHXnYjo6z
— Ripple (@Ripple) July 28, 2021
Ripple’s partners included SBI Holdings Remit, a money-transfer provider, and SBI VC Trade, the digital-asset platform, both part of Japan’s FSA, as well as Coins.ph, a Philippine bitcoin-payments service.
According to Ripple, Filipino expatriates living in Japan send about $1.8 billion home each year. The Philippines ranks third among remittance destinations in the Land of the Rising Sun.
The company also noted that the cost of transfers from Japan (a 10.5% fee) is almost twice the average for the G7 and Russia (5.92%).
Ripple enjoys strong support from the Japanese community. The company has long-standing ties with SBI, and XRP tokens are also used by Nomura, the financial holding.
In December 2020, the SEC accused Brad Garlinghouse’s company of selling unregistered securities as XRP tokens to retail investors. The parties have yet to resolve the dispute.
The Japanese FSA considers XRP a cryptocurrency, not a security. The same view is shared by SBI Holdings and Nomura.
Earlier, Garlinghouse said that regulatory pressure on the crypto industry could force Ripple to leave the United States. As possible destinations, he named the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore, and Japan.
In March, the head of Ripple noted that the SEC case did not damage its business in the Asia-Pacific region. He said the company could continue to grow in Asia and Japan because these markets have a clear regulatory framework.
In March, Ripple acquired 40% of Tranglo, the Asian company specializing in cross-border payments.
Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news on our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, rates and analysis.