According to a recent tweet, Ripple is currently working on deploying private blockchains of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) code to be used by central banks in developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and other similar use cases from Matt Hamilton, a former Principal Developer Advocate at Ripple Labs.
Hamilton emphasized that these versions of the XRP Ledger are not yet live, as the federation code is still in the works. The federation code is a component of the XRPL software that enables cross-border payments by routing payments between different payment networks using federation addresses. It essentially acts as a bridge between the XRP Ledger and external networks.
The recent disclosure is in sync with an official announcement from Ripple in March 2021. The Silicon Valley firm revealed that it was piloting a private version of the XRP Ledger, which central banks can leverage in issuing and managing CBDCs. Monica Long, President of Ripple, also highlighted the development in March 2021, noting that CBDCs will “live” on these new private ledgers.
At the time, Hamilton further shed light on the structure of the private ledgers, explaining that every financial institution would operate its distinct private ledger. However, all of these private ledgers would be interconnected with the public XRP Ledger, which would function as a bridge linking them together.
Hamilton’s latest statement aimed to refute ongoing rumors suggesting the existence of a distinct XRP token on private versions of XRPL that have already been deployed. These rumors have alleged that the different XRP tokens hold diverse values and are being utilized by banks and other financial institutions on the ODL platform.
The former Ripple Director stressed that this is false, and the only place XRP exists is on the public XRP Ledger. Some individuals pointed out that Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, mentioned a private ledger for institutional clients during a speech at the World Economic Forum in 2019. However, Hamilton clarified that Garlinghouse was referring to RippleNet, and that these private ledgers have not yet been implemented.
