By Tobi Loba
The first cryptocurrency bank licensed by FINMA, Sygnum Bank, has announced on 30th April 2020 that XRP is now available via its banking services platform.
Customers of the bank can now access deposit, exchange, and credit services using the third-largest digital currency by market capitalization, XRP.
Sygnum customers can use deposits in fiat currencies, such as the Swiss franc, the Euro, the Singapore dollar, and the USD, to buy, hold and trade XRP.
Moreover, customers of the bank can make XRP transfer to their Sygnum deposit account or increase their liquidity in fiat currencies with a Lombard loan granted against XRP.
Reacting to the new development, Mathias Imbach, co-founder of Sygnum said:
“We were impressed with Ripple’s excellent performance globally – they now have more than 300 financial institutions in their global payments network, RippleNet. The XRP-based solutions developed by the company resolve weak spots in the growing global remittance market of $ 700 billion. The low cost of transfers makes it an ideal tool to facilitate payments in emerging economies.”
According to the bank, Ripple protocol provides instant cross-border transfers at a low cost, making it preferable to the traditional means of sending money across the border.
The assets of Sygnums customers are stored in separate and secure individual portfolios. These can be easily accessed by all customers of the e-banking platform, and also accessible anywhere in the world.
Meanwhile, banks have incorporated Ripple’s protocol in their operations in the past such as the recent development. Recall that Herald Sheets reported on 10th April 2020, that Ripple’s partner, Azimo, a digital money service, partnered with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) in Thailand, to launch a RippleNet-powered cross-border payment service.