Ripple Rolls Out CBDC Platform for Governments, Financial Institutions

Ripple is rolling out a proprietary platform for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), enabling central banks, governments, and financial institutions to create their own digital currencies.

Described as “a frictionless end-to-end solution,” the Ripple CBDC Platform builds on Ripple’s Private Ledger, which was first introduced in 2021 for CBDC issuance. It’s based on the same blockchain technology as the XRP Ledger (XRPL), which was also designed primarily for payments.​

“As a trusted partner to several central banks, we believe this platform will help solve problems for many central banks and governments who are devising plans and developing a technology strategy for CBDC Implementations,” said Ripple’s vice president of CBDCs James Wallis.

Wallis added that the platform’s innovative capabilities “will help enable instant settlement of both domestic and cross-border payments, reduce risk, and improve the user experience of quickly sending and receiving digital currency on either side of a transaction.”

According to Ripple, the new platform enables government institutions to oversee and customize every aspect of the CBDC’s life cycle, including its creation, distribution, redemption, and removal from circulation.

Financial institutions will also be able to use the platform to manage the distribution processes involving the CBDC, whereas end users–both corporate and retail–will be able to securely store their digital currencies and use them for purchasing goods and services, similar to how existing payment and banking applications function.

This includes the convenience of offline transactions and accommodating non-smartphone scenarios, per the crypto firm.

Ripple will demonstrate the platform’s capabilities through the e-HKD pilot program, conducted by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which acts as the de facto central bank.

The firm is collaborating with Taiwan’s Fubon Bank to develop a product for tokenizing real estate assets and facilitating equity distribution within the framework of the e-HKD pilot program.