In the recent Swiss National Bank Conference, many of the major players from the banks and financial institutions participated. The theme of the event was around the creation of CBDC’s and their impact on the global economy, and lastly the use of USD as the prominent currency on the global level. The only member who was from the private sector was the CEO of Ripple- Brad Garlinghouse. In the panel discussion, the CEO explained briefly about his company, its three software products- xCurrent, xRapid and RippleNet, and other questions that addressed the need of blockchain, Ripple’s role in solving the international payment settlement, fees around SWIFT system, the effectiveness of blockchain, and similar topics.
Some of the key attendees and panelists included- Agustin Carstens, BIS Chairman, Christine Lagarde, IMF Chairwoman, Tobias Adrian, IMF Director, Ahmed Abdulkarim, SAMA Governor, Norman Chan, Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chairman, Elvira Nabiúllina, Central Bank of Russia Governor, etc.
According to Garlinghouse, xCurrent “does not touch crypto” and “is just you know kind of Swift 2.0.”
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Further, he pointed out that the software solution is a messaging platform which, when compared to the traditional fiat to fiat payment settlements, is far more efficient in “real time.” Next, he touched on the aspect of a liquidity solution for the banks and other financial institutions. During the discussion, the CEO then walked the listeners to “RippleNet” which is the blockchain technology-based banking and payment network. To this, he added-
[…] the third product is simply an API that allows corporates to do real-time payouts into this network that we call RippleNet.
SWIFT, on the other hand, has been a long-established trusted cross-border payment settlement system. It is used by banks and financial institutions all over the world. The CEO said that it will take a little while for the global payment network to catch up with the internet-based developments.
The CEO explained how xCurrent will be a beneficial addition to CBDCs interoperability. He said that the company’s (Ripple’s) perspective is about having interoperability on a global scale. He continued while saying that even in a “world of CBDCs”, there is a requirement of interoperability to solve the cross border-related issues.
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Garlinghouse explained how his company is progressively working towards building an internet of value. He made it clear that the aim is not the central banks, but rather the target is on commercial banks and other financial institutions. He also made comparisons between XRP and Bitcoin. He said XRP was made with a view to make corrections on the lagging areas of BTC’s source code. While talking about the transaction time, he said that with Ripple, the banking system can really enjoy a far better efficiency as it only takes just four seconds to complete the process.
