Has the Bank for International Settlements endorsed XRP or the XRP Ledger, as of October 13, 2026?

The full answer

What did the BIS publish about the XRP Ledger?

On September 2, 2026 the Bank for International Settlements published BIS Working Paper 1374, titled “Verifiable official statistics: a blockchain-based approach” [1]. The BIS describes itself as supporting central banks’ pursuit of monetary and financial stability through international cooperation [1].

The paper starts from a gap in SDMX, the standard used to share official statistics internationally. According to the authors, SDMx, the standard used to disseminate data sets internationally, has no way for users to check that a data set really came from the issuing institution and has not been altered since publication, for example by third-party platforms or artificial intelligence systems [1]. Their answer is to compute a cryptographic fingerprint for each data set. A single summary value covering a batch of data sets is then recorded on the XRP Ledger, where it is timestamped and cannot be changed afterwards [1].

The authors say they present “a proof of concept implemented on the XRP Ledger” and release an open-source, XRPL-based reference implementation [1]. Only fingerprints go on the ledger, never the underlying data, so confidentiality is kept [1]. The paper also says the approach is data-format-agnostic and could extend to other statistical or regulatory formats [1].

Does the paper speak for the BIS?

It says it does not. The paper carries this notice: “The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BIS or its member central banks” [1].

The authors also limit their own results. On the prototype, publishing took three to five seconds and verification one to two seconds, and the paper adds that “these figures describe a proof of concept rather than a hardened production system” [1]. Nothing in that wording describes a BIS decision to adopt the XRP Ledger, and nothing in it mentions Ripple.

The BIS stated the same authors-only disclaimer in Working Paper 1374, published September 2, 2026: the views are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BIS or its member central banks. BIS Working Paper 1171, published March 13, 2024, studied leverage in DeFi lending and found wallet leverage typically ranged between 1.4 and 1.9 [2]. Research on a system is how the series works, and it is separate from the BIS backing that system. Readers tracking how XRP’s standing with institutions has shifted over time can compare this paper with the record on how XRP’s institutional position has changed since the SEC case.

Does the prototype use XRP the token?

The paper’s summary is about recording fingerprints on the ledger, not about holding the token. Its cost analysis says on-chain fees are negligible once modest batches are used, because one ledger entry can cover thousands of data sets [1]. Ordinary processing and storage, not ledger fees, are the main costs in the authors’ model [1].

For a list of banks and firms that do work with XRP or Ripple products, and what each relationship involves, see which major financial institutions are involved with XRP.

What is the strongest case for reading it as support?

The authors are not outside academics. Of the paper’s five authors, four are listed with roles in the BIS Monetary and Economic Department, including the Head of MED IT and the department’s Head of Operations [1]. They chose the XRP Ledger for the prototype and published working code for it [1]. People who see the paper as a signal point to exactly that: senior BIS staff built on this ledger and the BIS put the result on its own website.

Against that, the paper’s own text sets the limits. It speaks for its authors, it calls itself a proof of concept, and it frames the ledger as a timestamp for statistics [1]. The BIS’s policy work on cross-border payments runs through other channels, such as its Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures report of September 7, 2022, which gave central banks a framework for designing liquidity bridges [3].

Where can the wider XRP claims be checked?

Claims that a public body “uses” XRP often travel alongside market figures that need the same scrutiny. A separate page tests how much of XRP’s reported trading volume is real.