According to Ripple’s official tweet on October 3, payments app MoneyTap, co-developed by Ripple and Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings, is now live.
MoneyTap will use Ripple’s blockchain solution xCurrent to enable domestic bank-to-bank transfers in “real time.” Account holders at three participating Japanese banks – SBI Sumishin Net Bank, Suruga Bank and Resona Bank – can send funds using the mobile app, which is compatible with both iOS and Android devices.
Once registered, users will reportedly need just their cell phone numbers or a QR code to complete transfers in either Japanese yen or foreign currencies, without a commission fee. The payment system will be secured using the devices’ inbuilt security technology, such as biometric login authentication systems that use fingerprint scanning.
At the end of September, the last remaining obstacle to MoneyTap’s launch was cleared, when SBI Holdings announced it had secured a license from Japanese regulators to handle electronic payments as an “Electronic Settlement Agency Service Provider” under legislation rolled out in March 2017.
In early March Ripple announced that MoneyTap would eventually see a consortium of 61 Japanese banks – representative of more than 80% of all of Japan’s banking assets – participate in the service.
