Will all partner banks use XRP soon?

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Ripples annual Swell Conference will be held for two days from today. Ripple has previously released a new, potentially groundbreaking role for banks and financial institutions of the RippleNet. The new feature is called "multi-hop" and may also be linked to a major change to the website that renders individual ripple software solutions xCurrent, xVia and xRapid obsolete.

"Multi-hop" should allow companies to use the blockchain of Ripple to handle payments on behalf of other companies. Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) will be the first bank to use this technology, Ripple said in a press release. In this it says (freely translated):

With multi-hop, financial institutions can connect directly to SCB, which can settle and pay off across the region, without >switching multiple currencies and charging high fees. The result is a seamless payment experience to and from the >Southeast Asian States (ASEAN) region. For smaller financial institutions that were previously unable to make payments >in ASEAN, multi-hop will democratize access to these countries and facilitate payments, regardless of the level of >payment or the liquidity pool of their financial institution.

What does this mean for ripple and XRP?

Unfortunately, the above statement in the press release is very abstract and does not reflect the significance of the new feature it might have for Ripples XRP tokens. A look at the ripple website reveals that it has been redesigned. Instead of the three software solutions xCurrent, xVia and xRapid, there is only one single payment solution for banks and other transfer service providers named "RippleNet" on the website.

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