Ripple, the blockchain-based payment network, suffered a setback after Japan’s Resona Bank said it would no longer use MoneyTap, a consumer-centric retail payments app that uses Ripple’s enterprise blockchain technology.
Resona – Japan’s fifth-largest financial institution – did not provide a reason for the abrupt cancellation, which makes it the first Japanese bank to quit the MoneyTap project. It’s unclear if others will follow.
WITHDRAWAL COMES 6 MONTHS AFTER AGREEMENT
The cancellation takes effect on May 13. Resona made the surprising announcement April 11 on its website, where it said:
“Resona Bank will cancel the cooperation with the money transfer application MoneyTap (which started on October 4, 2018) on May 13, 2019.”
Reona dealt Ripple adoption a blow. | Source: Resona Bank
13 JAPANESE BANKS INVESTED IN MONEYTAP
As CCN reported in October 2018, a consortium of 61 Japanese banks — which account for over 80% of Japan’s banking assets — had agreed to eventually use MoneyTap.
As of last month, 13 banks had invested in the project as shareholders. With Resona Bank’s withdrawal, that number has dwindled to 12. Interestingly, Resona was one of the first three banks to join the project – which does not use the public XRP cryptocurrency.
MoneyTap is the product of SBI Ripple Asia, a banking alliance that launched in November 2016. The group’s goal was to leverage Ripple’s blockchain technology for domestic bank transfers in Japan.
MoneyTap enables real-time domestic money transfers between bank accounts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Payments can be triggered with the use of a simple QR code or the recipient’s phone number through the application, which is available on both iOS and Android platforms.
