San Francisco-based payments firm Ripple is launching a stablecoin project for the Micronesian nation of Palau.
Speaking at a crypto conference in Singapore, Surangel Whipps Jr., the current President of Palau, says the island nation has numerous projects in the works that utilize crypto assets, including a government-issued stablecoin, as well as Binance Pay.
“Palau is also taking a step in collaborating with Ripple to explore the creation of national stablecoin, which we hope to launch soon which will help make payments easy and secure.
Palau’s also been very fortunate to gain recognition from leaders in the blockchain industry like Changpeng Zhao from Binance who was able to visit us a few months ago and we talked about how we can collaborate on the digital residency program, as well as making use of Binance Pay to make digital payments for digital residents, but also even participating in the local commerce.”
According to Whipps Jr., the small size of the nation makes it easier to incorporate digital assets into its financial system.
“This is a new world for Palau, but we are excited to be part of it. One of the advantages that we have is we’re small and hopefully we can mobilize our government and be more adaptive to the changes that need to be made in this fast-changing environment.”
Last month, Ripple Labs published a paper on stablecoins, saying that 2023 will be a good year for the dollar-pegged crypto assets as more and more institutions and investors adopt them while they gain more cross-chain capabilities.
“As banks and other financial institutions continue to explore additional stablecoin use cases, cross-chain interoperability and the many benefits afforded by public, decentralized blockchain networks will be key stepping stones on the path to a stablecoin future.”
According to Ripple, Palau’s stablecoin, which has no firm release date yet, will be launched on the XRP Ledger. XRP is the digital asset used to operate Ripple’s payments platform, meaning the crypto asset will be involved in the stablecoin project.
“Ripple is working with the Republic of Palau to help explore a potential government-backed stablecoin on the public XRPL [XRP Ledger]. The ledger’s inherently green design is highly important to a country known for its leadership on climate issues.”
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