Ripple’s XRP Isn’t Making Western Union’s Payments Cheaper, CEO Says
Western Union began testing XRP, ripple's cryptocurrency for payments six months ago, but according to their CEO the money transfer company has yet to see a financial benefit. Ripple has long touted its blockchain technology—and the cryptocurrency XRP, of which it still owns a majority—as a faster and cheaper way to move money internationally. But Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek said that while his company is still experimenting with Ripple’s product xRapid—which uses XRP as a conduit to transfer money between foreign currencies—for payment settlements, it hasn't saved any money yet. “We are always criticized that Western Union is not cost-efficient, blah blah blah, but we did not see that part of the efficiency yet during our tests,” Ersek told Fortune in an interview Wednesday at the Economic Club of New York. Ripple (XRP) is the 3rd largest cryptocurrency by market cap size. It is up 7.30% over the past 24 hours and is currently trading at $0.561081. It can be bought with fiat dollars, debit, or credit cards on cryptocurrency exchanges such as CEX.io and Changelly.
