The Siam Commercial Bank (SCM) is the oldest bank in Thailand. It’s recently suggested that it could be trying out the wonders of blockchain technology by using one of Ripple’s applications.
The rumors started to circulate earlier this week when some users had a look at the banks’ Twitter account and noticed a few pics that seemed to be one of Ripple’s apps geared to facilitate international transactions. “Send money abroad today at the cheapest rates via Ripple,” you could see in a post entitled “SCB Easy.”
The SCB social media team has been rather slow in either denying or confirming any of the rumors. They just said that further details about Ripple’s integration into the bank’s technology arsenal will be announced soon.
Obviously, this is good news for Ripple aficionados. But not as good as it could be. It seems that while the bank will indeed adopt at least one of Ripple’s software solutions to remove friction from settling international payments, it also appears that they won’t be picking the one that uses Ripple’s XRP as a mediating coin. At least not at the beginning. SCB stated on Twitter:
“We will be using [b]lockchain [t]echnology for [R]ipple but as for XRP, you may have to wait for further announcement [sic].”
This is not the first bank in the world to join the Ripple Net. In fact, more than 200 banks all over the world are using Ripple’s software solutions in either pilot programs or at the production stages. Ripple’s adoption has been particularly fast in the Middle East, but it’s happening everywhere. The first early adopter (at production stage) was Banco Santander. The bank is using Ripple’s tech to power a mobile app that allows for instant exchanges of money in some countries in Western Europe.
Asia and crypto
The Asians market are particularly crucial for Ripple or any financial company. The apparent reason is that Asian countries are so densely populated. Maybe less evidently, it just so happens that Asia is probably the most active zone of the world when it comes to cryptocurrency. Most of Bitcoin’s mining happens in China, and the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform (Binance) is an Asian company as well.
Ripple is well aware of Asia’s relevance. That’s why it recently announced that it would be increasing its personnel in Asia (based in Singapore) significantly during the next few months.
It’s no surprise that Siam Commercial Bank wants to start slow with Ripple. Inertia is a powerful force in the financial world everywhere, but it’s even stronger in Asia where traditions are more important than in, say, Central Europe, just to name an example. That being said, banks all over the world can jump in any wagon very quickly once they’re sure that there’s something in it for them, especially savings.
So Ripple keeps gaining new strategic partners everywhere and reporting good news. XRP is trading at USD 0.38115 as we write this, and it remains the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.