Global payment platform Master Inc. has just concluded an arrangement to make its largest procurement so far by buying out Nets, the Danish payment company. The acquisition is set for 2.85 billion euros ($3.19 billion) and is expected to help MasterCard settle payments much faster.

The focus with this acquisition is instant, real-time payments and MasterCard will be receiving an electronic-billing and instant payment services platform, to expand what it already controls. Since it’s the largest-ever acquisition by the firm, MasterCard has also disclosed that the move will put a damper on the firm’s profit for up to two years after the acquisition has been fully settled.

The recent move by MasterCard is furthering a global yearning by institutions and governments all over the world for faster, real-time payments to keep their many customers and attract new ones.

According to the Chief Product and Innovation Officer at MasterCard, Michael Miebach, there is a high demand for real-time payments.

“Real-time is real, it’s here and it keeps growing. What we found in Nets is it’s a business that’s deeply ingrained in some of the most innovative and vibrant payments markets in the world.”

Ripple Was There First

Probably the most certain aspect of technology is that it keeps changing and developers will also keep seeking new ways to improve and also proffer solutions to pre-existing problems.

Ripple currently has a few products which run under the RippleNet umbrella, a network of hundreds of financial institutions who use Ripple’s services to make realtime, cross-border payments in record speed.

At the moment, it would seem like anything short of real-time speed will be good enough for payment companies, even traditional ones. This is why Ripple’s platform already boasts of a high number of clients and the firm keeps on signing more every day.

According to Ripple’s recently released Q2 report, settled xRapid transactions were 170% more than that of Q1 with the number of active partners also jumping by 30%.

Furthermore, Ripple’s Global Head of Banking, Marjan Delatinne, recently said at the blockchain summit held in London, that “we sign on an average of three to five institutions a week”. These results would have to be hurriedly matched in some way by traditional institutions or they might completely lose the fort to crypto and blockchain services.

Cory Johnson, a crypto influencer and Ripple’s former chief market strategist, recently took to Twitter to call the XRP community to the significance of the Mastercard deal as it pertains to Ripple. According to his tweet:

“I know the XRP community is focused on the impact of Facebook’s Libra, but this Mastercard deal could be even more important to Ripple’s ecosystem. If nothing else, it’s validation that real-time payments is clearly the coming wave.”

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