Ripple CEO: BIS testing XRP Ledger not a surprise

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said he was not surprised to learn the Bank for International Settlements has included the open-source XRP Ledger in its experiments with distributed ledgers. He pointed to the ledger’s design for payments and Ripple’s long record of work on cross-border transfers as reasons it would draw central bank interest.

The BIS, which serves as a forum and research hub for central banks, has run controlled trials of multiple distributed ledger technologies to assess how they perform for international payments and settlement tasks. Participants in those tests compare metrics such as throughput, settlement finality, interoperability and operational requirements across different platforms.

Garlinghouse described the XRP Ledger’s fast settlement times and consensus-based validation process as attributes that make it a natural candidate for such tests. He also noted the ledger is open-source and does not use the energy-intensive mining mechanism common to some other blockchains. Ripple has developed connectors, software tools and commercial partnerships intended to link banks and payment providers to distributed ledger networks.

“I wasn’t surprised to see the BIS testing the XRP Ledger,” Garlinghouse said. He added that independent testing by central banks and international organisations offers neutral technical feedback for market participants.

Industry observers characterise BIS trials as exploratory, aimed at identifying technical strengths and weaknesses rather than prompting immediate deployments. Results from the experiments can feed into policy discussions and standards work among central banks, but they do not equate to adoption decisions.

Ripple has pursued commercial relationships with banks and payment firms to promote use of XRPL-based services. The company has also faced legal proceedings in the United States over sales and the regulatory classification of XRP tokens; that case has drawn attention to how regulators and public institutions treat private-sector ledger technologies.

Garlinghouse said comparative testing helps financial institutions evaluate whether a particular ledger meets operational and regulatory needs and that broader use would require coordination among regulators, banks and technology providers.