• Palau has recently received recognition from key figures in the blockchain industry including Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao who recently visited them.
• The president of Palau, Surangel Whipps Jr. disclosed details about the country’s digitization and future embracement of blockchain.

The success of cryptos and blockchain technology has guided the exploration of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the past couple of years. It is reported that 114 countries, representing 95 percent of the global GDP are currently exploring CBDC. Out of this, 11 countries have fully launched a digital currency.

The latest to join the list is Palau. The president of Palau, Surangel Whipps Jr. disclosed details about the country’s digitization and future embracement of blockchain in a recent interview with Bloomberg’s Joanna Ossinger. In his submission, Whipps Jr. mentioned that the country is seeking to launch a CBDC and will collaborate with Ripple Labs in this groundbreaking initiative. 

This is a new world for Palau, but we are excited to be part of it. One of the advantages that we have is we’re small and hopefully we can mobilize our government and be more adaptive to the changes that need to be made in this fast-changing environment.

The country has recently received recognition from key figures in the blockchain industry including Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao who recently visited them. It is reported that Whipps Jr. and CZ discussed how they could collaborate on the digital program and also use Binance Pay to create digital payments. 

Ripple Labs prediction for 2023

Ripple Labs predicted in a study last month that stablecoins will gain a huge adoption in 2023 as more institutions and investors seek to embrace them. Things may be more interesting with its cross-chain capabilities.

Whipps Jr. believes that their small size could make it easier to integrate digital assets into its financial sector. Palau is made up of 340 islands with a population of 18,059. 

Our small size is one of our advantages since it should make it easier for us to mobilize our administration and respond to the reforms needed in this fast-changing environment.

The president of Palau also disclosed a recent virtual meeting with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin to discuss the possibility of opening an R&S ID ecosystem to the developer community. Whipps Jr. also understands that the CBDC effort is symbiotic with the private or decentralized crypto ecosystem, and could even compete with each other. 

The president further stated that the country has no established Central Bank, however, they use USD as the official currency. The collaboration with Ripple is to fulfill its goal of having a USD-backed stablecoin to move a step forward to its own CBDC. 

As a reminder, thanks to the cooperation with Binance, Palau back in January introduced its Root Name System (RNS) Digital Residency program, which foresees issuing ID cards to digital residents in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the BNB Chain.

Stablecoin is largely considered for several benefits including lower cost, real-time, safe, and more competitive payments. Regulators have also sought to introduce a legal and economic framework to control any possible risk associated with stablecoins and cryptos in general. 

Ripple (XRP) is currently trading at $0.36 and has little chance of hitting $5 in the short term.