Ripple’s blockchain technologies are about to see a turning point that could make the company far more approachable than it already is, to commercial businesses that have an interest in exploring blockchain technologies. As is stands, Ripple are able to provide a number of services and solutions, including xRapid and XRP, xCurrent and xVia. Until now, these services where only available as standalone solutions but according to new rumours, Ripple have redesigned their whole service, which is set to see the release of ‘Convergence’ the all in one Ripple solution.
In order to produce a full picture of what Convergence could include, let’s recap on exactly what services Ripple currently have to offer:
“xRapid is for payment providers and other financial institutions who want to minimize liquidity costs while improving their customer experience. Because payments into emerging markets often require pre-funded local currency accounts around the world, liquidity costs are high. xRapid dramatically lowers the capital requirements for liquidity.”
“xCurrent is Ripple’s enterprise software solution that enables banks to instantly settle cross-border payments with end-to-end tracking. Using xCurrent, banks message each other in real-time to confirm payment details prior to initiating the transaction and to confirm delivery once it settles. It includes a Rulebook developed in partnership with the RippleNet Committee that ensures operational consistency and legal clarity for every transaction.”
“xVia is for corporates, payment providers and banks who want to send payments across various networks using a standard interface. xVia’s simple API requires no software installation and enables users to seamlessly send payments globally with transparency into the payment status and with rich information, like invoices, attached.”
It is said that Convergence will exist to pull together all of the RippleNet technologies, giving companies complete control of their blockchain service and allowing them to see a roadmap from start to finish, with regards to how blockchain may pan out for their company. According to Ethereum World News, Jim Chauncey-Kelly, the Director of Talent Acquisition at Ripple has already mentioned Convergence in an interview at the start of August, he said:
“Earlier in the year, a big part of what my team was focused on was hiring a lot of engineering. This was probably our biggest push because we are building a software called Convergence that syncs together all of our 3 major products into one seamless format. For example, if American Express (one of our clients) wants to send $500 to a bank in Thailand, there is an immediate quote of what that exchange is and the money goes through. This is something that brings together all of our products to further enhance RippleNet which is very exciting.”
See more for yourself, here.
How could all of this work?
These products exist through networks and therefore in order for a company to gain access to it, they simply just need to enrol onto RippleNet. With Convergence, this will be done via one interaction, instead of via a number of different enrolments. It is alleged that XRP would act as a centre point for this roll out and therefore, XRP would be centered within Convergence. Convergence as a network and not as a software product. As I have mentioned, this is simply designed to make RippleNet easier to access.
According to Ethereum World News, Chauncey-Kelly has also recently tweeted about Convergence, confirming these rumours, though it does seem that since then the tweet has been taken down, he said:
“Hi All – for clarity — we have 3 products – xCurrent (in production) and 2 more on the way – xVia & xRapid. They will be on a ‘convergence’ release soon. There isn’t a software actually called ‘convergence’.”
Will this make Ripple the go to blockchain provider?
Perhaps so. For big companies to get involved, they always want it to be as easy as possible. By having a time consuming system of three separate networks, all doing slightly different things, institutions shy away simply because they don’t want to have to deal with the hassle of sign ups so to speak. Convergence as an access point to a unified network however brings with it great potential, and the chance for the big client involvement.
We don’t know how or when Convergence will be rolled out, but we do know that when it comes to the fore, it will do so with a bang, Ripple don’t like to underplay themselves and therefore they are no doubt going to make the most of this.
