The UAE Exchange, one of the oldest money exchange houses in the region confirmed it is in negotiations with the US blockchain startup Ripple to work together. The exchange house is planning to introduce real time, cross-currency payment via blockchain technologies.
Incorporating the blockchain into its operations would help the UAE Exchange save on money transfers. During the past year, the remittance house has already invested in two other blockchain companies.
One of the brands was Loyyal, a blockchain startup creating an international loyalty network. The other one was Bankchain, a community of banks aiming to explore, build, and implement blockchain solutions.
Earlier this year, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has inked a deal with Ripple to accelerate the internal and cross-border bank payments in the Emirate. Further to that, the UAE’s biggest lender Emirates NBD announced its collaboration with the Indian bank ICICI. They started a project to use blockchain for global remittances and trade finance.
According to Jameel Ahmad, the vice-president of corporate development and market research at FXTM, the future of the financial industries lies in adopting bitcoins and blockchain technologies:
Collectively, remittance facilitators like the Western Union and MoneyGram control over 1 million retail locations and handle more than 25 percent of the world’s annual remittance transactions.
Although they are still popular among people, the traditional money transfers require a lot of paperwork, added Ahmad. The bitcoin, said he, could facilitate the process.