Ripple to add smart contracts to XRP Ledger (Cointelegraph)
Ripple will add smart contracts to the XRP Ledger (XRPL) developer ecosystem and XRPL mainnet, although it’s still in its research phase and the firm did not provide a definite time frame for deployment. It also invited programmers familiar with Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) languages to explore possibilities on its sidechain. Ripple also said the sidechain was created for developers using Ethereum-based smart contracts. This gives a familiar environment for deploying DApps, allowing them to use Solidity, a programming language used to build smart contracts on Ethereum. [Read more at Ripple]
CBDCs, payment firms, and geopolitics (NBER)
The U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) published a paper that analyzes the effect of a major central bank digital currency (CBDC) – the digital euro – on the payment industry, finding “remarkably” heterogeneous effects. Stock prices of U.S. payment firms decrease, while stock prices of European payment firms increase in response to positive announcements on the digital euro. Bank stocks do not react. The results are consistent with the notion that the development of the digital euro is driven by a desire for strategic autonomy in payments, pointing to a novel geopolitical dimension of CBDCs. [Read more at the NBER]
Russia’s largest bank to start offering customers CBDC in 2025 (Crypto.news)
Russia‘s Sberbank plans to start operations with the country’s digital ruble for its customers in early 2025. Sberbank is among Russian banks expected to join the project in the second round of testing CBDC, along with about 20 other financial institutions. [Read more at the Moscow Times]
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And 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 john@kiffmeister.com.
