Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20240404)

Ripple to launch USD-backed stablecoin on Ethereum and XRP Ledger

Ripple plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar across the Ethereum and XRP Ledger blockchains. They will be fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. government treasuries, and “other cash equivalents. Ripple will provide monthly attestations of its holdings that back the stablecoin, which will be audited by a third-party accounting firm. It is expected to be available later this year, subject to applicable regulatory approval. [Read more at Ripple]

First participants in ECB wholesale DLT trials chosen

The European Central Bank (ECB) published the list of the first institutions to participate in its trials of the settlement of wholesale transactions on distributed ledger technology (DLT) based platforms using central bank money. The list is comprised of five central banks, ten institutions, six market DLT operators and five central banks. The trials will involve real transactions as well as mock simulations, with most of the tests focusing on securities settlement. There also plans to consider use cases for payment versus payment (FX) and cross border payment. Three settlement solutions are part of the trials, provided by the central banks of Germany (RTGS-based “trigger” solution), France (wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) solution) and Italy (TIPS Hashlink solution). [Read more at the ECB]

Kiffmeister’s central bank digital currency monthly monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only) if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.