Why is XRP now in the red after 50% surge in a week?

XRP is down 2.2% over 24 hours after climbing 49.4% over seven days, putting the token back in negative territory after a strong week.

The drop comes as crypto traders watch the payments business around XRP change, as large banks keep rolling out blockchain systems aimed directly at the pre-funding problem. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is doing that through Kinexys.

In June, JPMorgan expanded Blockchain Deposit Accounts to eight currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, JPY, RMB and SGD. Customers can move those balances around the clock and swap supported currencies onchain.

A company holding dollars can receive yen without first buying a separate crypto asset to bridge the trade. JPMorgan can set the FX price, exchange the currencies and log settlement on its blockchain immediately.

Citigroup (NYSE: C)’s 24/7 USD Clearing network reaches more than 250 banks across 40-plus markets. Citi Token Services also moves tokenized commercial-bank deposits using blockchain infrastructure. Citi says combining both systems lets institutions make overseas payments quickly while needing less money parked in advance.

Real-Time Liquidity Sharing can also process payments without making banks fund each account ahead of time. Ninety seconds is still slower than the XRP Ledger’s three-to-five-second settlement range. But companies may care more about using cash already inside a regulated bank than routing the payment through XRP.

SWIFT is linking separate bank tokens while keeping a shared cryptocurrency out of the process

The banks are having another problem since the digital deposits that they have are not automatically connected. This means that if you have a token for one dollar for HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HSBC), it is the liability of HSBC. Likewise, if you have a token for a deposit at Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN), it is limited to the Standard Chartered ecosystem.

SWIFT is addressing this issue. On August 19, HSBC and Standard Chartered banks completed the first transaction between countries via the SWIFT blockchain ledger. The banks stored the deposit tokens in their own infrastructure. SWIFT delivered the messages, aligned the obligations, compared them, and calculated the payments for each bank. The final transfer was done via traditional payment systems.

SWIFT did not recreate the model of XRP. Indeed, the cryptocurrency can serve as an asset transfer channel on its own ledger. SWIFT, however, implemented an alternative approach by using different tokens issued by banks that can interact with each other even being on different platforms.

The project is moving past the original pair of banks. SWIFT says 17 banks on six continents are getting ready for live tokenized-deposit transactions through the ledger. HSBC already offers its Tokenized Deposit Service across six markets and supports CNH, HKD, SGD, EUR, GBP, USD and AED.

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