This week, a spokesperson from Ripple has made an interesting statement: the company is currently working with 40-50 international central banks, among which the Bank of Thailand. Specialists don’t know yet if the public relations representative aimed to officially announce this or if it was an accident, but they are sure that this step could open new ways for Ripple.
In fact, the thing that puts Ripple in front of its competitors is the will to extend the collaboration with international banks and thus integrate into a central banking system that can work for many countries. In this case, Bitcoin will be disadvantaged by the possibility of remaining decentralized if they go mainstream. Of course, the announcement made by Ripple is not that surprising, because their intention was predictable; they have had discussions with many central banks and they cannot make a press conference all the time.
The latest trends focus on cross-border payments
The announcement made by Ripple was part of a panel discussion about cross-border payments. The fact that they decided to go through with the idea of a transnational banking system is the result of efforts dedicated to making international payments possible. Ripple saw that the only way in which this dream can come true is by establishing a partnership with central financial institutions which have the adequate infrastructure for holding cross-border payments.
The Bank of Thailand and other central banks are umbrellas that cover many smaller banks with local activity, so Ripple hopes that by including them in the process of international payments, the small institutions will follow. Their idea could work, if we consider that nowadays people, capital and merchandise move a lot. In the end, another question remains: 40-50 banks mean an overestimation or a realistic number? In any case, people are excited about this partnership, so Ripple should keep up the good work.
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.