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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
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FACT BRIEF

Is the Bank of England moving to the XRP cryptocurrency financial system by September 2022?

By Christiana Dillard
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NO

A social media post links the Bank of England's phase-out of paper currency to a move to the XRP cryptocurrency financial system. But a spokesman for the bank says there is no link -- the bank is in fact replacing paper banknotes with polymer banknotes, but the bank is not planning to move to XRP cryptocurrency. 

England's £5 and £10 paper banknotes already have been by replaced by polymer banknotes. The £20 and £50 paper notes will be phased out for polymer notes by September 2022. 

XRP is a cryptocurrency developed by the blockchain company Ripple. A global professional services company known as Accenture has worked with Ripple, and Accenture is spearheading the Bank of England's Real Time Gross Settlement Service -- the infrastructure that holds accounts for the bank.

Those business-to-business-to-business relationships do not mean the bank is moving to XRP cryptocurrency.   

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Bank of England The new £50 enters circulation, and the paper £20 and £50 will be withdrawn in 2022
Bank of England Why are new banknotes made of polymer?
Ripple XRP: The Best Digital Asset for Global Payments
Bank of England Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.