Ripple Labs, the fintech company behind the popular payments protocol, has expanded its liquidity hub to new regions as the platform continues to meet the crypto demands of customers.

In a blog post, Ripple’s head of liquidity products, Brad Chase, revealed that the company has opened up the liquidity hub for customers in Brazil and Australia, in line with several new features and functionalities added to the platform.

Ripple Expands Liquidity Hub

Ripple launched its liquidity hub in April, 18 months after announcing its intention to release the product in 2021. CryptoPotato reported that Ripple aims to use the platform to assist financial firms looking to offer crypto trading services by bridging the gap between digital assets and fiat.

The Ripple Liquidity Hub promotes the mainstream adoption of crypto assets by functioning as a standalone solution that enables businesses to manage their multi-asset liquidity needs. Initially available in select U.S. states, the hub leverages a smart order routing service to source cryptocurrencies from platforms like exchanges, over-the-counter desks, and market makers.

Some assets available in Ripple’s liquidity pools include bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), and Litecoin (LTC). XRP is currently unavailable due to the company’s ongoing legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ripple intends to add support for the token when the case is concluded and regulatory clarity is achieved.

It is worth noting that the Ripple hub lessens the need to pre-fund capital positions to source liquidity across multiple platforms because it has assembled all major crypto asset pairs in one venue.

New Features and Functionality

Alongside opening up the liquidity hub to Brazil and Australia, Ripple introduced liquidity for some new crypto assets on the hub, with plans to add support for other tokens to meet customers’ demands. The company included new trading UI features and improved service level agreements for crypto deposit processing to enhance customer experience in ious segments.

Ripple disclosed that it expanded to the new regions because of existing solid connections to its other businesses and the presence of firms looking to adopt crypto to meet their customers’ payments and liquidity needs.

“We’re excited about a number of new features coming soon, including a sandbox environment and added functionality to continue improving the experience for our customers,” Chase said.