BIS Project Mariana Does Not Use XRP or Ripple Technology: Details

Speculations have emerged that the BIS’ Project Mariana leverages Ripple and XRP for cross-border payments, but how valid are these claims?

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an institution dedicated to facilitating collaboration between central banks, recently introduced a noteworthy initiative called Project Mariana.

Unveiled in June, this endeavor seeks to streamline the international transfer of wholesale central bank digital currencies (wCBDCs) by leveraging automated market-makers (AMMs).

Notably, Project Mariana is the result of a cooperative proof of concept (PoC) undertaken by the Innovation Hub of the BIS in partnership with public financial institutions, including the Bank of France, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Swiss National Bank.

Claims of Ripple and XRP Involvement

Interestingly, some XRP community members are now speculating on the potential involvement of Ripple’s technology or XRP, the native cryptocurrency of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), in Project Mariana.

You can't tell me Ripple, XRP, the XRPL and XLS-30D weren't involved! pic.twitter.com/68kPNwykua

— Lewis Jackson (@cryptolewlew) August 20, 2023

One of the catalysts triggering these speculations is Ripple’s membership in the BIS cross-border payments interoperability and extension (PIE) task force, a role disclosed by the BIS in a report this month.

The PIE task force plays a crucial role within the overarching G20 cross-border payments initiative, which aims to enhance the efficiency, security, and transparency of cross-border transactions on a global scale.

Edward Farina, a prominent XRP community figure and CEO of Alpha Lions Academy, called attention to Ripple’s inclusion in the PIE task force. However, some proponents misinterpreted this as the involvement of Ripple in the Mariana Project.

Furthermore, another contributing factor to these conjectures is a report published by the Atlanta Federal Reserve. As The Crypto Basic highlighted in May, the Atlanta Fed brought attention to Project Mariana, Ripple, and XRP within the article.

Although the Atlanta Fed report emphasized Ripple’s capacity to enable frictionless cross-border payments, it didn’t explicitly suggest that the Mariana Project would leverage Ripple or XRP. However, this side-by-side presentation has prompted speculations in that direction.

Examining the Facts

Nonetheless, a thorough examination of Project Mariana’s interim report promptly dismisses the idea that Ripple’s technology, or XRP, is pivotal in the initiative. Instead, the project relies on Ethereum and Curve Finance.

The interim report highlights that Project Mariana harnesses Ethereum’s resilient distributed ledger technology (DLT) to create and transfer wCBDC tokens. These tokens conform to the widely embraced ERC-20 standard for interchangeable tokens on the Ethereum network.

Moreover, the project utilizes bridging mechanisms to facilitate smooth interoperability across diverse blockchain networks, effectively connecting Ethereum with Arbitrum.

Furthermore, Curve Finance, a prominent figure in the DeFi landscape, assumes a central role in Project Mariana, acting as the designated automated market maker (AMM) solution to streamline the procedures involving the exchange of wCBDCs.

The evidence unequivocally points out that Project Mariana diverges from employing Ripple’s technology or XRP, opting instead for Ethereum and Curve Finance.