The growing interest in Blockchain technologies and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) efforts paves the way for Ripple. Many governments are working on digital versions of their national currencies, and significant financial institutions in countries are issuing their own stablecoins. This situation is particularly spreading in the European region.
The Minister of Finance of Palau has officially launched the second phase of the Palau Stablecoin (PSC) Program. Jay Hunter Anson, a cybersecurity consultant in Palau, confirmed the launch of the CBDC pilot program via his social media account.
Anson, as an advisor to the project, stated that Palau aims to expand its partnership with Ripple in this new phase. Ripple, which provides advisory services to many countries in their digital currency efforts, enables public officials to benefit from its CBDC platform and technical expertise.
The stablecoin named PSC, pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio, will be held as a reserve at an FDIC-insured commercial bank. Good news for XRP Coin investors is that this stablecoin has been launched over XRPL. In the future, more governments will be able to issue their digital currencies more securely through Ripple and other crypto companies offering similar services.
Anthony Welfare, Ripple’s Strategic Advisor for CBDC, emphasized the importance of CBDC in his statement about the second phase. Welfare highlighted that digital wallet services, especially in cross-border payments, are less costly than normal banking services and do not demand excessive fees. He also pointed out the complexity of transporting traditional currencies among Palau’s 340 islands and the opportunity for Palau residents to perform offline transactions with the PSC stablecoin during power outages.
This update came just a few days after the Minister of Finance of Palau announced the success of the first phase of the PSC program. Three months ago, 168 volunteers tested the digital currency at local businesses, each with 100 PSC. The feedback from the tests was positive.