• Ripple executive predicts a strong adoption of blockchain and Web3 technologies by global universities over the next two.
• Financial institutions will also carve their own blockchain and crypto strategy, however, they would wait for regulatory clarity to emerge.

Although Ripple has been involved in a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the past two years, it hasn’t stopped them from expanding its base and pursuing more projects in the blockchain industry.

In its report earlier this year, Ripple shared that this year the focus will be on the real-world utility of blockchain technology. Also, Ripple’s senior executive predicts that within the next two years by 2025, a staggering 50 percent of global universities shall start adopting crypto, blockchain, and Web3.

Several collapses and multiple bankruptcies during the last year of 2022 have created a sentiment of doubt and suspicion in the crypto space. Also, with changing macros and interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, capital has dried up from the market to support new projects.

Despite these challenges, Ripple believes that fundamentally strong and utility-driven projects will continue to garner demand. Ripple SVP of Engineering Devraj Varadhan expects a fundamental shift from speculative companies to ones that harness crypto solutions to real-world problems.

On the other hand, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are once again in limelight. Top economies across the globe have been pushing their CBDCs developments and tests. They are exploring how they can integrate CBDCs into the global financial system and simultaneously facilitate instant cross-border payments.

A similar utility extends to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as well! The first major wave of NFTs in 2021 centered majorly around digital art and collectibles. The second wave, currently in the nascent stage, will focus on real-world use cases such as real estate and carbon markets.

Financial institutions to double down on blockchain

Ripple SVP and Managing Director of APAC Brooks Entwistle stated that the current liquidity concerns are quite akin to the previous recessionary cycles. similar to the “dotcom bubble” crypto companies that relied majorly on hype cycles will be phased out of the market.

Sendi Young, the managing director for Ripple in Europe, explains that financial institutions continue to accelerate the long-term adoption of crypto solutions amid the potential gains in efficiency, transparency, and speed. Young added:

Banks and other large financial institutions will invest in new technologies with an expectation of realizing the benefits not in days and weeks, but in years, so we see the embrace of digital assets and blockchain continuing throughout 2023 and beyond.

As we know, top banking and financial giants like Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, SBI, and Visa, have been pursuing blockchain-related projects. They are also involved with offering solutions like custody of digital assets, payments, and trade execution.

Moving ahead, banks won’t have the question of ‘if’ but rather ‘when’ should they adopt a crypto strategy. Currently, regulatory developments are in a full swing in the crypto space. Thus, unless some regulatory clarity emerges, we can’t expect banks to make a move anytime soon.