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Ripple, a digital payments network, has partnered with Montenegro to help the small Southeastern European country develop its digital currency. The Prime Minister of the country, Dr Dritan Abazović, tweeted about a pilot project with Ripple on January 18, 2023, which did not go unnoticed by XRP enthusiasts.
Ripple Will Develop National Stablecoin For Montenegro
Montenegro has started creating digital currency after collaborating with global payment company Ripple. The nation’s Prime Minister, Dr. Dritan Abazović, announced his meeting with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Ripple Vice President for Central Bank Engagement James Wallis via a tweet written in Bosnia.
A loose translation of his two-part Twitter thread reads: “Productive meeting with Ripple CEO Garlinghouse and Ripple Vice President of Central Bank Engagement James Wallis. We are talking about developing a payment infrastructure that will enable greater financial accessibility and inclusion. Montenegro is open to new values and investments.”
The Prime Minister of Montenegro added that the country is working with Ripple on a pilot project for a national digital currency: “In collaboration with Ripple and the Central Bank, we have launched a pilot project to build the first digital currency or stablecoin for Montenegro, ” he said.
Montenegro became a candidate for European Union (EU) membership in December 2010 and negotiations with Brussels opened in 2012. Currently, its application has not been approved. Nonetheless, the Euro is used in Montenegro, although not in a legal tender capacity.
   
Does the Project Involve XRP?
Ripple has become increasingly active in central bank digital currency (CBDC) development since starting a private version of the XRP Ledger in March 2021, providing a platform for central banks around the world to issue their digital currency securely. The partnership with the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan and the Republic of Palau was announced a few months later.
Blockchain companies are pushing harder into the CBDC space, but will XRP be part of the CBDC project? This is an important existential question. To what extent the XRP ledger or even the XRP cryptocurrency will play a role in the potential of the Montenegrin digital currency is still unknown.
The SVP and MD at Ripple, Brooks Entwistle, noted during a recent interview that “there are places where we can play, maybe with a sidechain to the XRP ledger. We can help with interoperability in this regard, but it will be different for each central bank.”
Meanwhile, Ripple is busy resolving its long-standing legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over whether XRP tokens are being sold through unregistered securities offerings. Ripple chief Brad Garlinghouse expects the case to be resolved in the first half of 2023.
XRP is currently trading around $0.401, according to CoinMarketCap data. The sixth-largest cryptocurrency is down 3.05% today but has appreciated 16.6% over the past 30 days.
Going forward, we may hear more news about Ripple partnering with new countries to develop digital currency strategies. But will this open up mainstream adoption of XRP as the majority of central banks integrate the token into their CBDCs? That much is the future.
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