• Ripple says the latest xRapid 4.0 upgrade will give financial institutions a more frictionless way to facilitate cross-border payments
• Ripple says the new xRapid version 4.0 supports multi-hop payments, bulk fx and more
• The Ripple project is making steady progress in the blockchain technology and cryptospace

Ripple, the San Francisco-based financial technology (fintech) project that’s revolutionizing the world with its XRP and blockchain powered payment solutions, has revealed through its chief technology officer, David Schwartz, that xRapid version 4.0 is now live, with important improvements for users.

xRapid 4.0 goes live

These are exciting times for Ripple and its supporters, as the firm has reached another significant milestone in its long journey towards becoming a global financial technology heavyweight.

According to a tweet by David Schwartz, chief technical officer of Ripple, the much-anticipated version 4.0 upgrade of the XRP-powered xRapid solution for cross-border payments is now officially live. In his words:

“4.0 is live. We’re working to get all customers upgraded, but it’s a complex process. Multihop, xRapid support, much easier peering, and a much easier customer integration process are the major new features.”

Still work to be done

As reported by Blockchain Reporter in October 2018, Ripple announced the launch of xRapid to provide on-demand liquidity to clients with its XRP altcoin. At the time, a handful of firms, including MercuryFX, Cuallix, and Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union signed up for the service, and the list has grown significantly since.

While the 4.0 upgrade is bursting with exciting features such as increased product interoperability, user-friendly interface, easier counterparty peering, upgraded multi-currency support, zero downtime and more, some customers of Ripple may have to wait a little longer before enjoying xRapid 4.0, as Schwartz has hinted that the process is not automatic just yet.

“Unfortunately, because the architecture is so different, the upgrade can be a bit painful, requiring changes to customer middleware. We are learning a lot about maintaining enterprise software for FIs and keep working hard to improve our processes,” said the CTO in response to the inquiry of a user who asked if the upgrade could be done with the click of an update button.

As reported by Blockchain Reporter in March 2019, 13 new firms signed up for the SBI Holdings’ MoneyTap app which is powered by Ripple technology.

At the time of writing, the price of XRP is sitting at $0.30, with a market capitalization of $12.8 billion, as seen on CoinMarketCap.