Ripple Launches Cross-Border Payments Expansion in Brazil

Blockchain company Ripple has undertaken what it calls a major expansion in Brazil.

“Powered by new product capabilities and accelerating customer adoption, Ripple is now the only solution in the region capable of serving institutions across the full spectrum of financial needs — from cross-border payments and digital asset custody to prime brokerage and treasury management,” the company announced Tuesday (March 17).

In addition, Ripple said it plans to seek a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license with Brazil’s central bank, in line with the country’s new virtual asset regulatory framework.

“Latin America has always been a priority market for Ripple — not just because of the scale of the opportunity, but because Brazil has built one of the most advanced and forward-thinking financial ecosystems in the world,” said Monica Long, Ripple’s president, said in a news release.

“We’ve spent more than a decade building the trust, licensing, and technology required to operate in regulated markets,” Long added. “Now, with our expanded platform, we can meet institutions across the region with everything they need to compete in the modern financial system.”

The release added that a number of FinTechs and financial institutions in Brazil are utilizing Ripple for their real-world liquidity and payments needs.

For example, Braza Bank has chosen Ripple Payments to streamline USD payments and issued its BRL-pegged stablecoin, BBRL on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). And payments firm Attrus is using Ripple for cross-border payments in Brazil and over-the-counter settlement, integrating Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin into its settlement framework.

Meanwhile, Ripple said its custody business is also expanding into Brazil, “bringing bank-grade security, real-time compliance controls, and flexible deployment options to regulated institutions in the region.”

With these measures, Ripple is venturing into a FinTech ecosystem that—as PYMNTS wrote earlier this year—“remains defined by steady financial innovation, backed by renewed funding flows into the region, especially via venture capital.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Digital Developments: Charting Digital Payment Growth in Latin America” found that digital wallets, account-to-account transfers and real-time payment systems are displacing cash, modernizing commerce and expanding access to formal financial services in the region.

Ripple is also looking to expand into other geographic areas. The company announced last month it had received full approval for an electronic money institution (EMI) license from Luxembourg’s financial regulator.

The company said this marked a significant expansion of its regulatory footprint and would speed the deployment of its payment services across the European Union.

Ripple also plans to scale its payments business in the U.K. after getting an EMI license and approved crypto asset registration from the country’s Financial Conduct Authority.