In a recent Federal Reserve Bank Atlanta Policy Hub captioned “An Introduction to Web3 with Implications for Financial Services,” XRP was mentioned as an “international payment medium.”

The report reiterates the relevance of Ripple’s business model as it uses XRPL to meet cross-border settlement needs at a low cost.

XRP Facilitates Cross-Border Settlements

The XRP Ledger operates as an efficient institutional and cross-border payment medium with low-cost transactions of $0.0002 at a speed of 3-5 seconds.

The network is also scalable completing 1500 transactions per second and boasts of green attributes stemming from its carbon-neutral and energy-efficient operations. 

While the report focused on bolstering the effect of Web3 on financial services, the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank also mentioned the relevance of XRP and Stellar network in value transfers. 

According to the report, XRP is “roughly envisioned as an international payment medium or wholesale settlement coin.”

It further mentioned how XRP and Stellar blockchains facilitate cost-effective value transfers, just like the proof of concept, Project Mariana.

Project Mariana was jointly introduced in November 2022 by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Bank of France, and other Financial Institutions. 

The institutions aim to achieve “efficient cross-border settlements in the traditional finance system using DeFi built on public blockchains using smart contract protocols to automate markets for cryptocurrency and digital assets.” 

As such, they introduced the project to explore using Automated Market Makers (AMMs) for foreign exchange trading and settlement. In its announcement last year, the BIS disclosed the conclusion will be published in mid-2023. 

According to the Atlanta Fed bank report, Project Mariana proves how public institutions such as central banks are adopting Web3 and blockchain technology. 

XRPL Mention Reiterates Its Relevance Sparking Enthusiasm Among Supporters

While the Policy Hub didn’t focus on XRP or state that the bank will adopt it for settlements, proponents believe that mentioning it shows that public institutions notice its business model.

Many enthusiasts have reacted excitedly to the recognition on Twitter, even as a user WrathofKahneman, emphasized XRP was only mentioned.  In response to the post, a Twitter user by Allthemoney stated, “I’m good with “international payment medium.”

Another user, Gino Rigitano, thanked the Atlanta bank for mentioning XRP as a wholesale settlement coin, which he said gave “an expensive tone to its description.”

Meanwhile, Ripple has continued its push to remain relevant despite the ongoing lawsuit with the US SEC. In April 2023, Ripple partnered with the Montenegro Central Bank to pilot its CBDC. 

The crypto firm also launched a CBDC platform for governments and financial institutions to issue digital currencies. 

Additionally, Ripple acquired a Swiss crypto custody services firm Metaco to expand its offerings one week ago, and a few days ago, it acquired Panterra’s stake in Bitstamp.

Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView