Ripple’s New CBDC Play Has No Direct Need For XRP

Ripple’s new CBDC platform comes two years after it announced a CBDC private ledger

article-image

DUSAN ZIDAR/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Ripple is launching a platform dedicated to central bank digital currencies.

The platform is a “frictionless end-to-end solution” that would allow central banks, financial institutions and governments to explore and issue CBDCs.

According to a press release, users can “holistically manage and customize the entire life cycle of fiat-based central bank digital currency, transaction and distribution.”

Through the platform, the issuer of the CBDC will be able to manage the CBDC, while the operator can utilize the distribution and settlement options, and the digital currency users can both pay and receive the CBDC.

In 2021, Ripple announced a private ledger for CBDCs. At the time, Ripple said that XRP could “be leveraged as a neutral bridge asset for frictionless value movement between CBDCs and other currencies.”

Ripple built both its private ledger and the CBDC platform on the XRP Ledger, and the “private ledger is based on the XRPL but does not require XRP to operate,” a Ripple spokesperson told Blockworks in an email. “Central banks using the [CBDC] platform do not use or interact with XRP,” they continued.

“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,” Ripple’s VP of CBDCs said. 

Ripple stated in 2021 that around 80% of countries were reportedly exploring a CBDC. Recent reports suggest that this number has now increased to 90%.

Outside of Ripple’s ongoing legal battle with the SEC, the company has been actively engaged in mergers and acquisitions. On May 17, it announced the acquisition of Metaco for a sum of $250 million.

Metaco focuses on crypto custody for institutional investors and is based in Switzerland. 


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (10).png

Research

Innovations on Aptos’ technical design through Raptr, Shardines, and Zaptos approach near-optimal latency and throughput by unlocking 100% utilization of network resources, with the capacity to settle 260k transactions per second with latencies less than 800ms. The original Move language was revamped with the launch of Move 2, supporting more expressivity in smart contract logic and a scalable ability to interact with high volume datasets. The ecosystem has benefitted from strong asset inflows, now hosting over $1.3B in stablecoins, $450M in bridged BTC, and $530M in RWAs. Activity in the Aptos ecosystem has grown notably over the past year, with monthly application revenue reaching ~$835k and monthly DEX volumes growing to over $5B, both at new all time highs.

article-image

Interchain Labs will focus on sovereign L1s and institutional demand, abandoning plans for smart contracts on the Cosmos Hub

article-image

Also, only three tokens have outperformed bitcoin so far this year: XMR, HYPE and SKY

article-image

The fund group has submitted proposals in recent months for other funds that would hold litecoin, solana, XRP, HBAR, Sui and others

article-image

Momentum’s back — BTC leads, risk assets follow

article-image

Ondo Finance’s acquisition of blockchain development company Strangelove follows its buy of Oasis Pro

article-image

Cryptocurrency and stock traders alike had a lot to unpack Wednesday