Two former PayPal executives have launched a cross-border payment network focused on “faster, cheaper and more transparent payments.” The system will connect banks, merchants, and payment providers across the world and enable them to make transactions in virtual currencies and fiat.

Former PayPal Employees Unveil New Cross-Border Payment Network

Founded by former PayPal employees Jim Nguyen and Nas Kavian, Rapid Network is backed by funding from venture capital firm Borderless Capital and built on Algorand blockchain. It is a subsidiary of fintech infrastructure firm Six Clovers and employs the technology powering stablecoins to represent fiat currencies.

According to Jim Nguyen, CEO, Six Clovers, the company is spearheading the next generation of payments infrastructure to resolve “many of today’s challenges with domestic and cross-border payments, while opening up a whole new world of digital finance opportunities.” Algorand CEO, Steve Kokinos, shares a similar sentiment on Six Clovers. He states, “Six Clovers is creating a bridge between traditional and decentralized finance, expanding access to the next generation of digital products and services.” 

Rapid Network is Taking an Aim at Swift

Rapid Network intends to provide an alternative to payment services that are currently using the SWIFT protocol. The startup outlines in its statement that as “we enter a new era of finance, businesses need a modern payment infrastructure that reduces inefficiencies in today’s money movement process”.

The network uses the USD coin(USDC) to represent fiat on the Algorand blockchain, enables instant transfers between senders and receivers and can process up to 46,000 transactions every second.

The CEO of Borderless Capital, David Garcia highlights that the Rapid Network could trigger mass adoption of blockchain technology among “banks, merchants, and payment providers as they see the need to embrace the digital future.”

In terms of sustainability, Algorand is a proof-of-stake protocol, which is considered to be a much more environmentally friendly alternative to proof-of-work. The project has also joined forces with ClimateTrade, a leader in carbon dioxide emissions transparency and traceability, to notarize its on-chain carbon footprint for each epoch (a set number of blocks).