The adoption of blockchain technology is being felt across many sectors of the global economy. Its advantages and potential have also caught the attention of major companies like Visa. It therefore comes as little surprise that Visa has moved to acquire Ripple’s long-time partner, Earthport.
According to the latest Reuters report, Visa paid more than $250,000 for the UK-based payments provider Earthport to complete the acquisition. Headquartered in London, Earthport facilitates transactions for banks and large corporations worldwide. Since December 2014, Earthport has worked closely with Ripple to make cross-border transfers faster, cheaper and more secure. After a lengthy development phase, Earthport launched its Distributed Ledger Hub in 2016. In the same year, the company completed its first cross-border payment using blockchain technology (loosely translated):
[…] the first cross-border payment transaction that Santander UK received via Distributed Ledger. This allowed it to become the first British bank to deploy Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for cross-border payments globally.
Earthport explains that Ripple has significantly supported the company’s mission and vision, helping to “enable access to as many countries, currencies, accounts and payment methods as possible through a single API.” Visa International Service Association aims to expand its cross-border payments business through this acquisition. Cross-border services account for roughly 10% of Visa’s total global revenue, covering transactions that involve at least two countries.
Among Earthport’s clients are Bank of America and Japan Post Bank. Visa’s offer was a revised proposal that the company had presented to Earthport about a month earlier. Earthport provides businesses with a cost-effective alternative to traditional payment systems and consolidated services. Typically, banks and money transfer operators must use multiple payment channels across different countries to move funds quickly from one nation to another; Earthport streamlines that process through its network and technology.
The deal highlights how established financial players are seeking to integrate blockchain-enabled infrastructure to improve efficiency in cross-border payments. By bringing Earthport’s network and technology into Visa’s ecosystem, the combined capabilities could reduce friction, lower costs, and accelerate settlement times for international transactions—benefits that are attractive to banks, corporate treasuries and payment service providers worldwide.
While the industry continues to evolve, the acquisition underscores a broader trend: large incumbents are no longer ignoring distributed ledger innovations but are instead actively acquiring specialized firms to bolster their global payment offerings. For clients and partners of Earthport, the transition to Visa ownership may promise greater scale and additional investment in the technology and network that underpin cross-border payments.