Ripple Details Recovery Path for Failed XRP Cross-Border Payments

Ripple’s payment system includes a recovery process for cross-border transfers that fail after XRP has been withdrawn but before the receiving exchange confirms the deposit. The process is designed to preserve the funds for a later payment rather than end the liquidity cycle at the initial failure.

When a payment fails during this stage, the system can retry it every 30 minutes for up to 12 hours. If the failure occurs while the receiving side is converting XRP into fiat, retries can run once an hour for up to 24 hours.

The process can also convert XRP into fiat and transfer the proceeds to a Sender Segregated Account, or SSA, at the receiving institution. The SSA represents fiat owed to the sender. Funding the SSA establishes it as the sender’s nostro account.

Funds held in the SSA can be used for another payment. A new quote prioritizes available SSA funds. If the balance is insufficient, the payment uses the regular liquidity path.

The SSA supports three foreign-exchange configurations: Sender FX, Receiver FX and No FX. Failure conversion is disabled by default and depends on the payment configuration and use case. Processing can continue until the funds reach the SSA or are manually recaptured.

The payment flow uses XRP as an intermediate asset. XRP moves from the sender’s wallet to the receiver’s wallet, where it is liquidated into fiat before the beneficiary is paid. Even if the recovery process completes successfully, the original payment remains marked FAILED.

The feature provides a way to reuse recovered fiat in later transfers while keeping the failed transaction’s status unchanged.