GrayFox

This is brilliant. Thank you very much for this. Currently at work but I think I got my evening sorted. Thank you for the links.

Exactly, which is why I mentioned the first doc is from 2017 but if they truly did do tests on Ripple from then, would it not be the case they did their proof of concepts and by now probably encouraging developing nations to get on board to open up their markets. Speculating at best but there's no way ADGM and the international bank for reconstruction are doing this deal to encourage fintech and improve efficiencies without ruling out Ripple in the shadows.

Funny enough now that I look at that deal and who are involved, this is pretty under the radar. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has had its eyes on Ripple for quite sometime and one of their publications dates back to 2017. Page 35 of this document talks about DLT and Financial Inclusion, Ripple is one of the first examples and there's nothing negative said. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/29053/WP-PUBLIC-Distributed-Ledger-Technology-and-Blockchain-Fintech-Notes.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y And this one is from their sister organisation the IFC https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/31251/134063-WP-121278-2nd-edition-IFC-EMCompass-Blockchain-Report-PUBLIC.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y The USA is long gone by now

impeccable timing from Ripple with this video considering this was published recently: https://www.adgm.com/mediacentre/press-releases/uae-ministry-of-finance-signs-mou-with-adgm-and-ibrd-to-establish-the-international-technology-center-itc-in-uae/

This is just a hypothesis and let's call it within the realms of science fiction at this point. When it takes off and Ripple will essentially hold billions if not trillions of dollars in XRP then Ripple could essentially become a lender of last resort (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lenderoflastresort.asp) whereby they can lend out the XRP in reserve to markets and economies where liquidity is drying up. Essentially, to some degree this takes the role of the SDR and (wait for it) XRP becomes some form of world currency. The USD cannot play this role due to the Triffin Paradox, you can't have a currency that has to adhere to domestic monetary policies and at the same time adhere to international ones. In 2009, China blamed that financial meltdown on lack of liquidity with the USD. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/jan/28/china-blames-america-for-credit-crisis Here's a decent video of Miguel Vias of Ripple on how he sees the XRP distribution could happen as a lender of last resort - it's at the 54:30 mark.

Here's one of the many videos on the IMF page on youtube if you haven't seen this one yet. The moderator is Lagarde herself. One of the panellist is the governor of the central bank of Kenya. The panellists cover huge geographical areas including emerging markets and developing nations. You can hint at what the IMF is looking to do.

Oh wow, I was about to post that! Another thing that @JoelKatz said was everyone is building walls and he wants to tear them down. Ripple has met with a lot of walls. Not many were jumping on board or creating an ecosystem so they set up xPring and Stefan left to set up Coil to monetise the web and then you have Arthur and David with Polysign. Also they tackled regulation through education (no rhyme intended) by joining bodies and investing in university programs and speaking directly with regulators. They are essentially gathering fuel and blowing the embers and eventually that fire will be set ablaze. All it needs is patience and continuing to build that momentum which is exactly what they are doing. We're already seeing insurance products offered to crypto custodials. Blockchain is redefining trust in a trustless world. We don't trust our politicians, we don't trust the news media, we don't trust our monetary system, we don't trust society and we don't even trust our communities. We are witnessing the breakdown of society and Blockchain is asking us to trust again by redefining trust through code. Lagarde made this point on trust and this is why I'm bullish on the IMF being on board with blockchain. Banks are on board, all it will take is the go-ahead from the IMF. Before this happens however, we need domestic rails that are capable of handling this new decentralised monetary system - here comes project Ubin, Jasper, Bank of England's new RTGS system and even Japan is modernising its domestic rails. I'm betting on emerging markets and small economic blocs to be the first on board with the new payment system. I'm betting on places like Kenya with M-pesa to be the shining example to show what a new mobile banking system can do. By the way, Kenya's mobile payment ecosystem is one of the most successful example right now of what such a system is capable of and it has yet to be replicated elsewhere however the momentum is gathering in neighbouring countries like Tanzania.

Thank you for reminding me of that! Essentially this goes back to the 'checkmate' move by Ripple. Interledger Protocol is the panacea to allow walled gardens to talk to each other in seconds without having a connection. To summarise the whole thing, what Ripple is essentially propositioning is a single water source that everyone can connect to and in turn connect to other sources. Think of Central Banks and domestic monetary systems as continents and Ripple as the ocean. Instead of building a bridge from North America to Europe in order to get to Asia, you could literally build a port and do that very same thing and not only that but you are now connected to all the other continents without having to go through another!

I'm just reading the papers now and pulled out a few things. I tried to tweet the buggers but I'm not good at that and made a mess of it. One of the interesting things the paper says is that they don't expect all Central banks to be using the same system and not a single friggin' country will relinquish their market so the next best thing is to allow each country to have its own system and yet be connected and be interoperable with other systems. This points towards a world dominated by Interledger Protocol as the industry standard and even if god forbid ILP does not succeed then there needs to be a payment rail that interconnects every other domestic rail. So here goes my musings! According to the Project Jasper/Ubin published papers they refer to this paper "The Bank of Canada, Bank of England and Monetary Authority of Singapore share assessment on emerging opportunities for digital transformation in cross-border payments" and the focus was picturing three scenarios: The report examines three models of cross-border payments. The first two are built on existing domestic interbank payment systems using traditional technology. The third model focuses on the use of Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency and its various applications through Distributed Ledger Technology. The models could be used to improve access, speed and transparency of cross-border payments. However, the report finds that further work would be required, by both industry and regulators, if the models were to be developed further. Future areas of focus could include implementation and policy challenges. Link 1 - http://www.mas.gov.sg/News-and-Publications/Media-Releases/2018/Assessment-on-emerging-opportunities-for-digital-transformation-in-cross-border-payments.aspx According to the paper: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Bank of Canada (BOC), together with JP Morgan and Accenture, embarked on the Jasper-Ubin Project, a technology-based experiment to realize this all-or-nothing guarantee through an atomic transaction for a Canadian Dollar (CAD) - Singapore Dollar (SGD) payment across two distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms based on Hash TimeLocked Contracts (HTLC). HTLC uses smart contracts to synchronize all the actions making up a transaction so that either they all happen, or none happens. We know ILP is capable of this feature and the fact that it is controlled by a non-profit organisation which allows for a consensus in updating standards: Link 2- https://interledger.org/rfcs/0022-hashed-timelock-agreements/ According to the paper: Their was a collaboration between the BoE, BoC and MAS in regards to this whole new interoperability in central banks settlements and synchronication of payments and settlements across the globe as per the Link 1 posted above. The paper delves into the scenarios of what happens when one point fails then all the payments should fail. We all recall the proof of concept on Ripple by the BoE and their call of interest for synchronisation which is still happening for the new RTGS. PoC on Ripple: This PoC focused on a high-value cross border payment scenario in which transactions in two different currencies are executed simultaneously in two different simulated RTGS systems that could represent two different countries. Our key objectives were: 1- Determining whether the Interledger protocol could provide a suitable technical solution to the scenario; 2- Exploring situations in which the synchronised settlement process should not complete (for example, where there is a lack of available liquidity to make a payment) and to understand potential ways of responding; and 3- Building understanding of the technical challenges associated with both synchronisation and the Interledger Protocol. The PoC provides some interesting findings if we link it to the Jasper/Ubin paper and the fact that the BoE is involved in the background. Link3 https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/research/fintech/-/media/boe/files/fintech/ripple.pdfla=en&hash=75E5F445230B8A2B794C208D29619A3E33F1FFE7&hash=75E5F445230B8A2B794C208D29619A3E33F1FFE7 I'm going to shut the hell up as this is about to turn into a clusterf**k but you see where I'm getting at? Ripple hinted at this - There's not going to be a one blockchain to rule them all, they envisioned the possibility of multiple blockchains (and don't even get me started on multihop!) and so they allowed for ILP to flourish outside their control in order to create favourable environment for the XRP ledger to flourish. Now back to my vodka.....

This is a clicky to the full opening speech at InnFin in London by Carney https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/speech/2019/a-platform-for-innovation-remarks-by-mark-carney.pdf?la=en&hash=49FE92075B4C7DBB0C7E0975CDF38488BB0A02FB Takeaways - The new era of banking is going to be Open and inclusive allowing non-banks direct access to the Central bank bypassing commercial bank routes. Competition is ramping up and already incumbents are feeling the heat from digital and challenger banks like N26, Atom, Monzo etc. Regulations will try not to stifle innovation but instead focus mostly on pertinent concerns such as KYC/AML and adhere to FATF requirements and also ensure the stability of the wider market. This will allow the market to decide for itself what route they want to take which opens up competition and again which adds more heat on incumbents. Lagarde was right, incumbents either join the party or disappear.

Originally from Yemen, we use the jambiya, almost the same

Those are the big wigs, the one with the cane is probably the biggest as part of tradition and surprisingly he wasn't wearing his khanjar. He was probably asking his subordinate "How do I feel my bags with XRP?"

I need to see more of this guy and Sagar Sarbhai. They are always on point and carry the message well but you rarely get to see them and yet the results speak for themselves when a lot of the partnerships are coming from their side. They need a pay rise!

Oh welcome to the club Eri! I thought you were always in here

The reason they are getting into games because of stuff like this: https://www.theverge.com/2014/1/29/5356498/eve-online-battle-sees-200000-dollars-worth-of-spaceships-destroyed There's dormant cash lying around in these ********!