Ripple plans to acquire a 40% stake in Asian cross-border payments specialist Tranglo as part of its expansion of Ripplenet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) in Southeast Asia, Ripple announced today.
Despite Ripple’s current litigation woes with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the status of the XRP token, the blockchain payments provider is continuing its push into the Southeast Asian market — announcing it has agreed to acquire 40% in Tranglo, one of Asia’s largest cross-border payments specialists.
Tranglo — which has offices in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Dubai and London — is a company that supports business payments, payment collections, money transfers and mobile top ups.
The partnership with Tranglo would allow Ripple to service the growing demand for cross-border payments in the region as well as expand the reach of its ODL services. Leveraging ODL, XRP acts as a bridge currency between two fiat currencies to send money instantly and reduce working capital needs.
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According to Ripple’s announcement, Tranglo will continue to play a critical role in supporting existing payments corridors in the region, and will introduce new ODL corridors within its current network. The partnership also means that Ripplenet customers using ODL will be able to leverage Ripple’s line of credit to free up working capital and scale cross-border payments into more markets than ever before.
Asheesh Birla, general manager of RippleNet at Ripple said, “Tranglo’s robust payments infrastructure […] makes them an ideal partner to support our expansion of On-Demand Liquidity starting with the Southeast Asia region. We are excited to continue and carry out our shared mission to transform cross-border transactions to be faster, cheaper and more secure with blockchain technology and digital assets.”
The partnership between Ripple and Tranglo will see both companies combine their expertise to address Southeast Asia’s highly fragmented payments landscape — as each country currently uses its own unique process and payments infrastructure. The lack of a common standard for cross-border payments in its current state creates expensive workarounds when sending payments between countries in the region.
Jacky Lee, chief executive officer at Tranglo said: “By partnering closely with Ripple and introducing On-Demand Liquidity to new markets, we aim to further that ambition to provide accessible and equitable financial services to the masses.”
The planned 40% stake acquisition of Tranglo by Ripple is still subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, but is expected to happen later this year. Upon completion of the acquisition, Amir Sarhangi, vice president of product and delivery at Ripple, and Ripple Managing Director Brooks Entwistle will join Tranglo’s board of directors. TNG Fintech Group will remain the majority shareholder in Tranglo.
XRP is the seventh largest cryptocurrency in the world with a market capitalization of more than US$25.5 billion according to data from CoinMarketCap. The XRP price currently sits at $0.56 marking a 28.7% increase since the beginning of March.
