Ulster U Research Paper Indicates “Ripple Private Ledger Testing for Digital Euro”

A recent paper released by Ulster University has reignited speculations within the XRP community, especially with the mention of a private Ripple ledger.

The paper, titled “CBDC – Lessons from China,” was released in August 2024, discussing the lessons obtained from a test of the e-CNY project from China. Prominent XRP community figure WrathofKahneman (WOK) recently shared these findings with the community.

Notably, the research includes a table that compares the transactions per second (TPS) capabilities of various platforms, including a blockchain dubbed “Ripple’s private ledger,” which it describes as being used for “testing for Digital Euro.” 

Ripple Private Ledger “Testing for Digital Euro”?

This mention has raised speculations, particularly about Ripple’s possible role in a digital Euro project. For context, the European Central Bank is currently exploring the issuance of a digital Euro CBDC. The bank is in the preparation phase of the project, which began last November.

Interestingly, as the bank looks to incorporate findings from its investigations into the preparation for the issuance of the digital Euro, a mention of Ripple’s private ledger “testing for Digital Euro” triggers speculations of the possible involvement of Ripple.

However, this remains unconfirmed. Notably, Ripple has partnered with multiple central banks from different countries to provide the necessary infrastructure for their CBDC projects, including Palau, Bhutan, Montenegro, and Georgia. 

Ripple launched its CBDC platform last May for this purpose. The company’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed in June 2024 that they have successfully inked partnerships with 10 governments for CBDC programs. However, a mention of the ECB has not come up.

Interestingly, WOK suggested that the mention of the Digital Euro testing stems from Ripple’s partnership with the Digital Euro Association (DEA), established in February 2022. 

The DEA recognized Ripple’s work on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), collaborating with the payments firm to help expand the technical knowledge around CBDCs for its community. 

The Private XRP Ledger

Meanwhile, another main point driving community discussions is the actual mention of a “Ripple Private Ledger” in the Ulster University research paper. According to the data, it has a 2022 TPS of 1,500, but its future TPS is marked as “unknown,” leading to further speculation. 

It bears mentioning that past community theories had speculated that Ripple has a private ledger where XRP is priced at extremely high levels, like $327,000. However, Ripple CTO David Schwartz has consistently poked holes at such theories.

It’s important to note that Ripple has been developing private versions of the XRP Ledger specifically for CBDCs, and this project allows banks to handle high TPS, with the potential to scale much higher in the future. Nonetheless, these ledgers do not use XRP.