Santander’s blockchain-powered foreign exchange platform is currently live in four different countries — Spain, the U.K., Brazil and Poland. A wider roll-out is expected in coming months, the bank said.

Innoventures, a $200 million fintech, or financial technology, venture capital fund set up by Santander, was one of a number of investors to participate in Ripple’s first round of funding in 2015.

Ripple has struck partnerships with multiple banks and other financial institutions, including Santander. Banks are less keen to use the firm’s digital currency XRP, but earlier this year two money transfer firms, MoneyGram and Western Union, announced projects involving the cryptocurrency.

On Wednesday, Ripple invested $25 million into a fund started by Blockchain Capital, a venture capital firm dedicated to blockchain.

Eoin Treacy's view

Ripple first gained notoriety as the favoured token of banks but nothing much came of the initial enthusiasm. Ethereum later became the favoured vehicle and went on to have a significant bull trend.
Ripple broke out to new 12-month highs today.



Using crypto tokens to speed up foreign exchange services strikes me as a viable use case for the technology. It also suggests Santander will be more leveraged to the crypto sector in future. The share is currently bouncing from the region of the 200-day MA and a sustained move above €4 would signal a return to demand dominance beyond the short term.