Ripple on Wednesday announced plans to obtain an Australian financial services license through its proposed acquisition of BC Payments Australia Pty Ltd, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk.
The acquisition, which is still pending, will enable Ripple to offer a complete payments stack in Australia, including onboarding, compliance, financing, FX, liquidity management and payments through a single integration.
Australian customers currently using Ripple Payments include Hai Ha Money Transfer, Stables, Caleb & Brown, Flash Payments and Independent Reserve.
Fiona Murray, managing director of Asia Pacific, said in a statement: “Australia is an important market for Ripple and AFSL enhances our ability to expand Ripple payments in the region.”
Regional data supports this push. Ripple said that by 2025, its payment volume in the Asia-Pacific region will nearly double year-on-year, but did not disclose specific figures.
The growth echoes the $100 billion in total processing volume the company announced last week when it announced it offers custodial custody, virtual account collections and stablecoin settlement capabilities in 60 markets.
Ripple also said it is participating in Project Acacia, a project led by the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center that focuses on digital asset infrastructure.
Licensing methods are worth noting. Ripple did not directly apply for AFSL, but acquired a company that already held AFSL. This is a faster route to market but means that the license is subject to the completion of the deal, which has not yet been completed.
XRP is trading at $1.38, up 0.3% on the day and up 1.7% for the week.
