BIS Finds New Use Case for XRP Ledger

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has tested the XRP Ledger as a public verification layer for economic statistics. 

With the help of the blockchain, the BIS has created a permanent record that can show whether a published dataset has been altered.

Verification problem 

How can someone who downloads an official statistics file be certain that it is the same file published by the issuers?

Official statistics are mostly distributed through digital platforms and consumed by automated systems, including AI tools. The BIS notes that SDMx, the standard used to exchange official statistics, helps institutions publish and distribute data, but there are concerns about providing the stated source. 

The BIS prototype adds verification with the help of blockchain by keeping an independent record of the dataset’s fingerprint.

That root is recorded on the XRP Ledger through a Payment transaction using the ledger’s memo field. The blockchain stores the cryptographic information that is needed for verification. 

A proof of concept 

The paper describes an actual proof of concept built on XRPL’s DevNet. The BIS says the system was designed around the ledger’s low transaction costs and rapid confirmation times.

Under the controlled test conditions, the prototype achieved a median publication latency of roughly three to five seconds. Verification took about one to two seconds. 

The prototype is built around SDMx, but the authors say the same architecture could be extended to other structured reporting formats, including XBRL. 

It is worth noting that the BIS experiment remains a proof of concept. Hence, it should not be treated as an official announcement. 

However, it does demonstrate an unusual use case for the XRP Ledger network, which sometimes gets criticized due to its apparent lack of utility.