Ripple has launched a platform to capitalize on worldwide interest in central bank digital currencies.
The Ripple CBD Platform is a “frictionless end-to-end” solution to help banks, governments and financial institutions launch their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the crypto solutions company said in a Thursday (May 18) press release.
“Leveraging the power of the same blockchain technology used on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), the enhanced platform will now allow its users to holistically manage and customize the entire life cycle of fiat-based central bank digital currency, transaction and distribution,” the release said.
According to Ripple, the platform was designed to help clients develop wholesale and retail CBDCs on a private ledger or issue stablecoins. Though powered by the XRP Ledger, the platform was built on a new private ledger backed by XRPL’s core energy-efficient technology, the company said.
Issuers can manage the entire lifecycle of their fiat-based digital currencies, while financial institutions who hold large amounts of the digital currency have the ability to “manage and participate in inter-institutional settlement and distribution functions.”
The platform offers end user wallets, letting corporate and retail end users “hold their digital currencies securely and be able to pay and receive payment for goods and services.”
PYMNTS spoke recently with James Wallis, VP of central bank engagements at Ripple, who said CBDCs are a “pretty important” topic for his company. In an interview published Thursday, Walls said he sees the digital currencies as a “platform for innovation.”
Fueling the pace of innovation, and crucial to its adoption, Wallis said, will be a seamless user experience coupled with the real-world practice of actually employing CBDCs to pay for things like retail goods, bills and utilities.
“Without exception, every project we’re involved in has cross-border payments as one of the top topics that they want to improve — whether that’s remittances or trade flows,” he said.
More than 90% of countries around the world are at work on either studying or developing CBDCs, Wallis said.
Ripple has helped some of them get started. Last month, the Central Bank of Montenegro announced it was working with the company to launch a CBDC.
The company says its platform can also help countries who have large unbanked populations, according to Thursday’s announcement.
“Partnering with Ripple to help create our national digital currency is part of our commitment to lead in financial innovation and technologies, which will provide the citizens of Palau with greater financial access,” Surangel Whipps Jr., president of the Republic of Palau, said in the news release.
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