Earthport, a leading British payments firm that facilitates international transactions for banks and businesses, is being acquired by Visa Inc., the leading global payments firm based in the U.S..
The acquisition is a £198 million deal, where the Visa International Service Association, a unit of Visa Inc. is paying 30 pence for each Earthport share. Visa Inc. offered this price at four times the company’s Monday closing stock price of 7.45 pence to secure the deal.
Following this news, Earthport’s shares surged in price, matching the offered price of Visa Inc. They recommended shareholders to take the all-cash offer as the firm said Visa’s offer was fair and reasonable.
Why is Visa Inc.’s Acquisition of Earthport Important?
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are not overly interested in the business operations of large legacy payment giants. However, Visa Inc.’s acquisition of Earthport strikes the interest of crypto enthusiasts and Ripple fans alike as Earthport is a partner of Ripple.
According to Earthport, their company offers a lower-cost alternative to traditional payment systems. They do this by allowing banks and money transfer firms to transfer money around the world with a single channel rather than with multiple payment channels.
These payments streamlining is inline with what Ripple has set out to do, and is the reason Earthport has already partnered with Ripple. Through their partnership, Earthport has created an API that helps to connect Ripple’s cross-border banking payments network with smaller institutions.
Since cross-border payments is such an integral part of Visa’s business, they may now use Ripple’s cross-border payments network more easily as Ripple already has an established relationship with Earthport.
However, the idea that Visa will implement Ripples blockchain technology through their Earthort acquisition is still only speculation. It is an interesting idea to think about and it makes sense.
Cross-Border Payments are Growing
According to Visa, cross-border payments play an integral role in their business and this faucet represents a growing market. In 2018 alone, the volume of these types of payments increased by 10% as of October 2018.
Not only did Visa’s settlement of cross-border payments increase in 2018, but Ripple’s did too. As previously reported, Ripple had a breakthrough year in terms of blockchain developments and cross-border payments.
Ripplenet and the xRapid system now have a network of over 100 financial institutions that span 40 countries and 6 different continents. Ripple’s cross-border payments services are recognized by reputable individuals in the financial industry and continue to see new partnerships all over the world.
Maybe it’s only a matter of time until Visa.Inc uses Ripple’s cross-border payment technology.
Do you think Visa and Ripple will collaborate on cross-border payments? Or will Visa’s acquisition of Earthport lead to the discontinuation of collaborations with Ripple? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
