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Friday, Jul. 2, 2021

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

Christiana Dillard, Lead Stories

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.   

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