US-based pharmaceutical firm Wellgistics will add payments in XRP and start accumulating the asset on its balance sheet

What’s new? Florida-based pharmaceutical distribution company Wellgistics is integrating the XRP token from fintech company Ripple as a payment and treasury asset. It thus becomes one of the first public companies to adopt XRP. The asset ranks fourth in the overall cryptocurrency ranking after bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether’s USDT stablecoin with a capitalization of $139,3 billion.

Press release

What else is known? The press release states that Wellgistics plans to increase the speed of transfers and reduce settlement fees for pharmacies, suppliers, and manufacturers using XRP and its associated blockchain network.

Standard wire transfers typically take up to three days and cost $10 to $30, and sometimes come with geographic restrictions and transparency issues.

The company said the XRP connection should provide global support for much cheaper, compliant instant cross-border payments. Transaction fees with XRP, for example, are less than a cent, and transactions can be completed in 3-5 seconds.

“We challenge the idea that healthcare has to be tethered to legacy systems, bloated intermediaries, and slow-moving money,” said Wellgistics CEO Brian Norton.

Wellgistics will fund the integration of XRP as a means of payment and a balance sheet asset through a $50 million line of credit.

“I believe that the future winners in healthcare won’t be the companies with the biggest buildings…they’ll be those with the fastest rails, cleanest data, and most efficient platforms. We’re betting on infrastructure…not inertia,” Norton added.

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In April, XRP-based futures contracts were launched by leading US crypto exchange Coinbase. Traders also expect the US securities regulator to approve spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on the asset soon.

XRP is trading at $2,4, having added 8,3% overnight. The weekly gain was 7,8%, and the asset is up 15% since the beginning of the year.

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