Ripple Labs’ Managing Director for Europe, Sendi Young, shared his predictions for 2023 on Twitter thread. As Young notes, 2022 is a “monumental” year for crypto with many ups and downs.
Young expects no less big changes in his young year, although he does not specifically deal with Ripple and XRP. However, some connections can certainly be drawn.
First, Ripple executives expect institutional adoption of blockchain and digital assets to accelerate despite the market downturn. Specifically, the company will launch new pilot projects and further explore the technology.
Furthermore, Young predicts increased industry consolidation as healthier companies make acquisitions to fill gaps in their own capabilities after FTX’s collapse.
“We will also see an increasing trend for crypto/blockchain companies to be acquired by traditional financial services players, as well as established companies from other sectors,” predicted Young.
One point that Ripple constantly makes in its campaign against Bitcoin, sustainability, is also echoed in Young’s prediction. According to Ripple executives, policymakers will further scrutinize the sustainability credentials of crypto and blockchain companies.
“Greater sustainability will be achieved with less energy-intensive blockchains and blockchain-enabled solutions such as tokenization of carbon credits,” Young said.
Another topic of interest from Ripple, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) was also chosen by Young. According to him, the collapse of FTX has further emphasized the country’s need to use trusted digital settlement assets as a safe alternative to other crypto solutions.
In this regard, Young also predicts the adoption of fiat-backed stablecoins:
2023 will witness greater adoption of fiat-backed stablecoins as institutions appear to recognize the benefits of blockchain technology such as real-time merchant settlement. The creation of new non-USD fiat currencies will also fuel this trend.
Looking to Europe, Young noted that crypto regulation is coming to the UK and Europe. After the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act comes into force, Young said the regulator will develop a workable crypto regime so that the UK can support the development of the crypto-asset sector.
In the EU, MiCA will be passed by the European Parliament, Ripple exec foresees, further clarifying that it will not take effect until 2024. Once MiCA is ratified, European level 2 regulators will begin developing detailed rules and standards. will work in practice.
What Does This Mean For Ripple?
Although Young did not mention Ripple with a single word, it is clear that his prediction has something to do with Ripple and XRP.
Last May, for example, the company announced that it would allocate $100 million to scale and strengthen the global carbon market. The funding is aimed at helping modernize the carbon market by investing in innovative fintech.
In addition, Ripple plans to build a portfolio of additive, long-term, nature, and science-based carbon credits, some of which will be used to fulfill its own commitment to achieve net zero by 2030 or earlier.
In addition, Ripple has a dedicated division for CBDC and says it offers a complete platform to print, manage, settle, and destroy CBDC. Each solution is based on a private ledger, which is based on the XRP Ledger technology.
More recently, it has become public that Ripple has conducted initial pilot projects, such as with the Central Bank of Bhutan and the Republic of Palau.
At press time, the price of XRP has experienced a 3.5% rise in the last 24 hours, but has been rejected at key resistance at $0.3546 and is currently trading at $0.3515.
Featured images from Reuters, Charts from TradingView.com