Ripple CEO says BIS testing with XRP Ledger unsurprising

Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse responded to a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) working paper that described a proof‑of‑concept data‑verification system built on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). He said the choice of XRPL was expected given its low transaction fees, fast settlement and established operating history.

Key points from Garlinghouse’s reaction

• XRPL’s nominal transaction fee is 10 drops (0.00001 XRP) under normal conditions.
• Consensus finality on the ledger occurs in three to five seconds, with verification taking one to two seconds.
• Garlinghouse framed the network’s selection as a logical outcome of its technical characteristics.

BIS proof‑of‑concept details

The BIS paper, released on September 2, outlined a system for anchoring cryptographic fingerprints of official statistical datasets on XRPL. The process creates a Merkle‑tree root that is recorded on‑chain while the underlying data remain off‑chain. Tests were run on XRPL DevNet, a test network without real‑world XRP value, using synthetic data derived from public statistical structures.

Scope and limitations

The experiment was a proof of concept, not an adoption of XRPL by BIS. The authors noted the architecture is blockchain‑agnostic and that performance results do not guarantee resilience under sustained mainnet loads or adversarial conditions. Future extensions could involve regulatory information, economic‑data oracles, tokenized instruments and AI‑driven verification, but these remain speculative.

Broader context

Ripple is developing a broader XRPL infrastructure stack that includes tokenization, stablecoins, trading, custody and credit services. The open‑source reference implementation of the BIS prototype has been released for public use.