Georgia selects Ripple as partner for its Digital Lari pilot

Georgia’s central bank has partnered with Ripple to pilot the country’s CBDC project, Digital Lari (GEL).
The National Bank of Georgia picked Ripple as its technology partner and will jointly plan and seek to deliver the pilot program.
 GEL will leverage the Ripple CBDC Platform, which is powered by XRP Ledger (XRPL).

Ripple continues to see tremendous traction in terms of the adoption, with central banks, major financial institutions and governments integrating its cross-border payments technology. 

The latest milestone, according to a news release published Thursday, is a partnership with the National Bank of Georgia (NBG). 

News of the partnership comes just hours after Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) announced it had approved Ripple’s XRP to allow firms integrate it in their digital asset services. 

Georgia picks Ripple for its digital Lari pilot

Per today’s announcement, Ripple is the central bank’s official technology partner, and will collaborate via the Ripple CBDC Platform on the country’s Digital Lari (GEL). The selection came after a competitive process that saw shortlisted parties submit a Project Execution Plan (PEP) and a demonstration of their technology.

“The committee selected Ripple due to its technical excellence and the expertise of its team. We look forward to moving ahead with Ripple and we are grateful to all other participating companies for their interest and efforts in the selection process”, Natia Turnava, the acting governor of the NBG, said.

As reported, the testing phase of the project will leverage Ripple’s CBDC technology to evaluate GEL’s practical use cases and potential benefits for the public, businesses and retail users.

Ripple is “currently conducting five pilot programs with different countries’ governments and central banks,” NBG noted in the press release. They include pilots in Bhutan, Hong Kong, Palau, Montenegro, and Colombia. The company is also engaging with more than 20 countries globally.

Ripple’s CBDC technology is powered by the XRP Ledger (XRPL).