The Prime Minister of Montenegro announced cooperation with the American company Ripple to create a state-owned stablecoin and modernize the payment sector.
Dritan Abazovic said he recently met with several Ripple executives, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse and vice president of central banking relations James Wallis. The Prime Minister announced that he is going to develop payment infrastructure and solutions for digital payments in the country.
The Montenegrin authorities, in cooperation with Ripple, have launched a pilot project to create a stablecoin pegged to the euro. Although Montenegro is not a member of the European Union, this small country in Southeast Europe uses the euro, having adopted it as its official currency in 2002 to protect against hyperinflation.
Ripple also cooperates with other states on payments using blockchain and cryptoassets. In December, the authorities of the Republic of Palau announced the launch of a project to create a stablecoin backed by the US dollar. XRP, Ripple’s cryptocurrency, is actively used to make international payments using the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service.
Despite the growing influence of Ripple abroad, the company’s activities have been overshadowed by legal battles with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which have been going on for about two years. Ripple’s management does not agree with the regulator’s opinion that XRP is an unregistered security, and hopes that the proceedings will end this year.
Source: Bits
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