BRASÍLIA, August 27, 2025 – Brazil’s Central Bank (BCB) announced late Wednesday afternoon a strategic partnership poised to accelerate the development of DREX, the country’s Digital Real platform. In a decision that reverberates throughout the global financial system, Ripple, the company behind the XRP cryptocurrency, has been selected as one of the first technology partners to provide the blockchain infrastructure for the project’s next phase.
The announcement marks one of the most significant pairings to date between a major government financial institution and a prominent company from the crypto space. According to the official statement, Ripple’s technology, specifically the XRP Ledger (XRPL) blockchain, will be used in an advanced testing environment for the settlement of tokenized assets among financial institutions.
The initial focus of the partnership will be the tokenization of federal government bonds. In practice, participating banks in the DREX ecosystem will be able to use a private, permissioned version of the XRPL to buy and sell these bonds instantly, with financial settlement occurring via DREX. This has the potential to drastically reduce the time and costs of interbank market operations.
Fábio Araújo, the DREX coordinator at the Central Bank, highlighted the choice in a statement. “Ripple’s expertise in liquidity solutions and its enterprise-grade, proven blockchain technology will give us the necessary security and efficiency to test complex use cases. This partnership is a foundational step in building the future of the national financial system.”
The news triggered a strong reaction in the crypto asset market, with the price of XRP posting a significant rally in the minutes following the announcement. For Ripple, the deal represents a monumental validation of its technology and its strategy of focusing on institutional and central bank digital currency (CBDC) partnerships.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, commented on his social media: “Brazil is at the forefront of financial innovation, and we are honored to be chosen by the Central Bank to help build the backbone of DREX. This project will serve as a global blueprint on how CBDCs can interact with tokenized assets to create a faster, more accessible financial system.”
With this partnership, the Central Bank is signaling that the conceptual testing phase of DREX is coming to an end, kicking off a structured implementation stage with selected partners. The expectation is that tests involving Ripple’s infrastructure will begin as early as the first quarter of 2026.