Ripple and Lunu partner to enable luxury retailers to accept cryptocurrency payments

By Edlyn Cardoza

Today, Ripple, the leader in enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, has announced a partnership with Lunu to support the Berlin-based company’s luxury retailers in accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment in-store and online using Ripple’s Liquidity Hub.

Lunu enables high-end and luxury retailers in the UK and Europe to accept crypto payments in-store via Lunu’s point of sale (POS) terminal and online widget. Lunu currently works with customers including Farfetch, Off-White, Browns and Steven Stone. Liquidity Hub will enable Lunu’s customers to accelerate the acceptance of crypto payments by optimising the exchange of crypto assets to fiat in one place at competitive prices.

Ripple launched Liquidity Hub to support long-term crypto adoption, offering turn-key integration and smart order routing to source digital assets at optimised prices. Liquidity Hub customers can seamlessly access crypto assets from various global venues, including market makers, exchanges, and OTC desks.

“For luxury retailers it is vital to stay on top of the latest trends, and when it comes to payments the greatest innovation is coming from the evolving crypto scene. Thanks to Lunu these retailers get access to new, younger, more affluent audiences that are constantly growing in numbers. Our partnership with Ripple has the potential to greatly impact retailers’ customer service offerings by expanding the variety of payment methods and by portraying retailers’ brands as more innovative and progressive,” said Rajesh Madhaiyan, Director of Product, Lunu.

“Crypto liquidity is the common thread that underpins all of Ripple products, from payments to lending and credit. Our ambition is to build a suite of enterprise-oriented crypto products for the benefit of our clients and their customers. This is why we are so excited by this fantastic new use case for Liquidity Hub which will enable Lunu’s luxury retail clients to accept crypto payments at the point of sale,” said Sendi Young, Managing Director, Europe Ripple.

Demand in Europe for Ripple’s products remains extremely strong. Ripple’s recent New Value research found that 70% of respondents at financial institutions in Europe expect blockchain to have a massive or significant impact on their business in the next five years, while 59% of respondents expressed interest in using blockchain for payments.

Ripple is the market leader in blockchain and crypto enterprise solutions and continues to see unprecedented growth globally as customers continue to grow and scale using its products. In 2021 Ripple had its most successful year to date, more than doubling the number of transactions on RippleNet. RippleNet’s annualised payment volume run rate now stands at $15 billion.

RippleNet leverages blockchain technology to help Ripple’s partners around the world accelerate their business performance and scale. It delivers a superior end-customer experience, simplified network partnering, liquidity management solutions, lines of credit, and infrastructure to enable real-time payments.