Ripple partners with Colombia's central bank to explore blockchain use cases

Ripple is partnering with Colombia's central bank to explore blockchain technology use cases in the South American country.

Banco de la República will work with the information and communications ministry to pilot use cases to enhance the country's high-value payment system using Ripple's CBDC Platform.

Joe Vollono, a director of CBDC business development at Ripple, said the company had been in talks with the Colombian central bank for over a year. The pilot is being run with Spain-based blockchain technology firm Peersyst Technology.

"When we're talking about the high-value payment system, what we're generally referring to is large scale, wholesale payments, RTGS systems, and related financial operations and infrastructure that might benefit from leveraging distributed ledger technology," Vollano said in an interview. "And so that's really the focus of the exploration here."

Ripple's efforts with central banks around the world

Besides improving speed, the efforts could ultimately reduce costs. The project will run through the end of 2023, Ripple said in a statement, noting that tests will be conducted in a controlled environment without compromising resources. 

Ripple has worked with monetary authorities in Hong Kong, Montenegro, Bhutan and Palau. 

"One of the advantages of the reasons to explore this technology for high value payments is around the infrastructure, and the idea that this these transfers can be done with finality, speed and scale in a way that existing infrastructure may not provide for the same flexibility," Vollono said.