The digital payment network Ripple has partnered with the Republic of Palau to help this Pacific island country develop its own digital currency.

Initial focus partnership We will see the development of a U.S. dollar-backed digital currency to help facilitate cross-border payments in the country. According to Ripple’s announcement, this cooperation “may achieve the world’s first government-backed national stable currency in the first half of 2022.”

Ripple suggests that the national digital currency is not necessarily just another CBDC.

“Ripple will provide Palau with technical, commercial, design and policy support. At the same time, it will explore stablecoins backed by the US dollar and related use cases-such as company registration- XRP ledger It can provide Palau and other countries with a viable alternative to the central bank digital currency (CBDC)”.

Palau President Suangel Whipps Jr. stated that the national digital currency will “provide more financial channels for Palau citizens.”

As an island country, Palau is particularly vulnerable to some of the effects of climate change. Ripple said this is one of the reasons why Palau was chosen for this job. The company stated that the XRP ledger is “carbon neutral and 120,000 times more energy efficient than a proof-of-work blockchain.”

James Wallis, Vice President of Central Banking at Ripple, said: “We are delighted to work with Palau to achieve its financial and climate-related goals.”

“We have a great opportunity to combine our technology and experience with Palau’s unique characteristics to bring real economic and social impact to the country.”

Ripple is no stranger to climate and environmental considerations.In February of this year, it Announce Its goal is to achieve carbon zero by 2030, first with the help of electronic warfare zero tools to make XRP carbon zero.

Zero war It is an open source solution from Energy Web that allows companies to purchase tokenized renewable energy to help them achieve carbon neutrality.Ripples also Led financing of US$44 million for fintech providers Nelnet renewable energy to help fund environmental initiatives across the United States.

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Ripple has been busy with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the trial of whether the XRP tokens were issued as unregistered securities in 2013. Brad Garlinghouse recently stated that he believes the case has Good progress has been made and will end in 2022.

The current trading price of XRP is approximately $1.05. It rose 0.42% this week, but fell 5.47% in November.