South Korea’s internet-only lender K bank has signed a strategic partnership with Ripple to test blockchain-based overseas remittances, marking another bank-facing expansion for Ripple’s payments infrastructure in Asia.
K Bank Taps Ripple For Blockchain Remittance TestsThe partnership centers on whether Ripple’s global network and blockchain infrastructure can improve the speed, cost efficiency and transparency of K bank’s overseas remittance system. For Ripple, the deal extends its long-running institutional payments strategy into South Korea’s digital banking market. For K bank, it gives the lender a live testing track for blockchain-based cross-border settlement at a time when stablecoins and tokenized payment rails are becoming a more serious part of bank-level infrastructure discussions.
“We are pleased to partner with K bank, which has helped set the standard for digital banking in Korea and continues to drive innovation,” Murray said. “This partnership will help strengthen K bank’s competitiveness in blockchain-based overseas remittance technology,” Choi said.
The wallet component is also part of the experiment. K bank used an in-house wallet in the first phase of the proof of concept, but plans to use Ripple’s SaaS-based digital wallet, Palisade, in the second phase. The goal is to test a faster and more scalable model for compliance and deployment, according to the bank.
At press time, XRP traded at $1.41.
