Telecom provider IDT and international payments service group Mercury have announced that they will pilot Ripple's xRapid for money transfers.

The two companies become the latest to sign onto the product, which uses the firm's XRP token, following news that remittance major MoneyGram was testing it for internal processes. Ripple had previously announced last October that Cuallix, a Mexican financial services firm, was using XRP.

As indicated in statements, the aim is to improve the speed of payments to a point at which they are occurring in real time. In tandem with that goal, the companies are looking to the tech as a way to drop the overall cost of transacting.

Alfredo O’Hagan, SVP of IDT’s consumer payments business, said in a statement:

"Payment providers like IDT Corporation and MercuryFX are early movers because they understand what XRP can do for their business and customer experience," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said of the announcement. "We're excited to have them at the forefront of the Internet of Value."

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Ripple. 

Digital payment image via Shutterstock