61 Japanese Banks plan to Offer Ripple Mobile App
Up to 61 Japanese banks plan to test a Ripple (XRP) mobile app called Money Tap. The app might be a game changer because it would allow Ripple (XRP) transactions to be settled 24 hours a day, and seven days a week.
Current plans are for Money Tap to be tested in fall 2018 at SBI Net Sunshine Bank, Suruga Bank, and Resona Bank, PYMNTS.com and CNBC reported. If the tests are successful, Money Tap will be rolled out to the other 58 financial institutions.
Money Tap will use a QR (quick read) code to communicate with cash registers and automatic teller machines (ATMs), PYMNTs.com reported. Theoretically, Money Tap would allow individuals to make brick and mortar purchases with Ripple; move Ripple funds into bank accounts, convert Ripple funds into cash and withdraw it from ATMs or cash registers, and make cash deposits through ATMs that can be converted into Ripple.
The app is the creation of commercial payments provider FLEETCOR Technologies Inc., a press release indicates. FLEETCOR subsidiary Cambridge Global Payments will operate Money Tap.
The press release did not say if Money Tap can be integrated with digital wallets that use QR Code. Several popular payment apps including Alipay, Google’s Tez, and Walmart Pay use QR Code to connect with cash registers and ATMs.
Is Ripple Creating an Apple Pay for Cryptocurrency?
The QR Code is a computer-generated image that a phone scans. The image serves as a “password” that grants an app permission to make a transaction. QR Code is theoretically more secure than the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology used by Google Pay and Apple Pay. NFC uses a wireless signal to communicate with cash registers and ATMs.
If it works, Money Tap can be highly disruptive because it would be the first mobile payment app for a cryptocurrency. To be a real game-changer Money Tap would have to convert more cryptocurrencies than Ripple to fiat currency instantly to enable brick and mortar transactions. There is technology out there that can do that including TenX’s crypto debit cards but is not known if Ripple is working with it
The trillion-dollar app would be one that instantly converts a wide variety of cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies instantly. That app would be the one that introduces cryptocurrency to the masses, and its inventor will make vast amounts of money.
Ripple is not there yet, but it is well on the way. Another organization moving towards such a solution is the Bancor Network (BNT) which is trying to build a cryptocurrency that serves as a conversion mechanism. Watch Money Tap closely because it will be an important real-world test of cryptocurrency’s potential.
