Ripple Executive Leads Australia’s CBDC Project, Another Pump For XRP?

The Reserve Bank of Australia on Monday released the white paper for the central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project (eAUD) in collaboration with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC). Interestingly, the CBDC pilot is led by Ripple’s former executive Dilip Rao.

Meanwhile, the XRP price saw a massive pump as the SEC v. Ripple nears summary judgment. The daily trading volume jumped over $6 billion, pushing the price to rally over 40% within a week.

Australia’s Reserve Bank Announces CBDC Pilot White Paper

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in collaboration with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) released the “Australian CBDC Pilot for Digital Finance Innovation” white paper on September 26.

The RBA and DFCRC will conduct a pilot project to identify use cases and understand the technological, legal, and regulatory aspects of the eAUD CBDC. The central bank invites industry participants to submit use cases beneficial for the Australian economy and financial system by October 31. Also, participants can request to operate their use case for testing and demonstrate its value in the pilot project.

As per the DFCRC, at least 12 use cases will be selected for further research on December 31. The use cases must comply with all laws and participants should hold all necessary licenses and permits. Also, the pilots on use cases will commence on January 1 and the final report will be presented by June 30 next year. Notably, participants will bear all costs in the pilot.

Interestingly, the pilot research is led by Ripple’s former executive Dilip Rao as the program director of the CBDC project. In fact, Rao contributed to Ripple’s XRPL adoption by the banking and financial market from 2014 to 2019. He believes the XRPL-based real-time settlement system has capabilities in CBDCs. The team plans to design the eAUD on private, permissioned Ethereum, but the chances of XRPL use cases are higher.

XRP Price Massive Rally

The XRP price witnessed a massive rally of over 40% last week as traders and whales believe Ripple’s win in the lawsuit against the SEC. Moreover, both Ripple and the SEC have filed motions for summary judgment.

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at $0.47, down nearly 3% in the last 24 hours. Experts believe the SEC may settle with Ripple as it fails to prove XRP as a security.