Pundit Highlights Alleged Partnership Between Ripple and Citibank

Prominent XRP community figure WrathofKahneman (WoK) recently unearthed a document suggesting Ripple worked alongside Citibank to develop a private solution for cross-border transactions.

The paper was written by Bheema Shanker Neyigapul of the Department of IT at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad India. It was titled “Reshaping Banking through Blockchain: Exploring the Future of Financial Transactions.”

Claim of Ripple and Citibank Partnership

The paper explored the revolutionary role of blockchain technology in addressing the challenges in the traditional banking sector. A cited case study of blockchain adoption in the banking sector involved a supposed partnership between Ripple and Citibank.

The university scholar highlighted Citibank’s implementation of blockchain solutions to enhance its cross-border payment services. The key aim was to minimize settlement times and expenses linked to international remittances.

Meanwhile, the research paper highlighted that Citibank initiated the blockchain project in collaboration with Ripple. The purported partnership aims to develop a private blockchain network specifically for cross-border payments. 

Allegedly, this platform facilitated immediate transfers between participating institutions, removing intermediaries and boosting real-time settlement.

Furthermore, the paper suggested that among the outcomes of the Ripple-Citibank implementation was a notable improvement in transaction speed. It claimed that Citibank’s cross-border payment system reduced processing times from days to seconds. 

Additionally, it cited that Citibank achieved significant cost savings, resulting in reduced fees. The firm supposedly enhanced transparency by giving customers real-time visibility into their transactions’ status.

Opposing Realities 

While these claims are valid for Ripple’s cross-border payment solution to banks, there are significant grounds for suspicion regarding where such implementation ever occurred with Citibank.

For instance, the paper authored by the university researcher was published on August 4, 2023. Interestingly, this pre-dates the official unveiling of Citibank’s move to adopt blockchain solutions to improve settlement transactions. 

Specifically, Citibank announced a blockchain-based service that enables instant transfers by tokenizing customer deposits on September 18, 2023.

Moreover, there is no known partnership between Ripple and Citibank at press time. Also, the research paper, aside from failing to cite any source, did not mention whether it was a pilot implementation or production.

These inconsistencies have raised significant questions from XRP community members regarding the genuineness of the report.

4.
> So is this legit or will it be corrected?
> Is it the kind of thing that would be "misstated" this way?
> Is it old news?
>> Did we just find confirmation #Ripple and Citibank have/are working together on a xborder platform?

— WrathofKahneman (@WKahneman) May 1, 2024

Ripple CEO’s Remark on Citi Partnership

Moreover, during an interview in 2019 Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that Citibank would likely be the last customer Ripple ever signs up. He attributed the perception to Citibank’s significant vested interest in maintaining the status quo and not embracing change.

This essentially negates the view that Ripple and Citibank might have been working underground to address cross-border payment solutions. 

However, a lot has changed in the last five years. Citibank has adopted blockchain solutions; similar steps are observable with financial behemoths like JPMorgan.

It is worth mentioning that the academic report was tagged “preprint.” A preprint is a version of the article that the author made available before its formal publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Nonetheless, nine months after this report, recent realities have failed to confirm that Ripple is indeed working with Citibank.