Ripple, the digital payment network, has partnered with the Republic of Palau to help the Pacific island nation develop its own digital currency.

The initial focus of the partnership will see the development of a Us dollar-backed digital currency to assist facilitate cross-border payments for the nation. The collaboration "could run across the implementation of the world's commencement government-backed national stablecoin in the first half of 2022," according to Ripple'due south declaration.

Ripple suggested the national digital currency may not necessarily be merely another key depository financial institution digital currency (CBDC):

"Ripple would provide Palau with technical, business organization, design and policy support. Meanwhile, exploring a USD-backed stablecoin and associated use cases —such as a corporate registry— on the XRP Ledger could provide a viable culling to cardinal bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for countries like Palau."

Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. said the national digital currency would "provide the citizens of Palau with greater financial access."

Every bit an island nation, Palau is especially vulnerable to some of the effects of climatic change, and Ripple said this was one of the reasons it was chosen for the job. The business firm said the XRP Ledger is "carbon-neutral and 120,000X more energy-efficient than Proof-of-Work blockchains."

"We are excited to be working with Palau to achieve its financial and climate-related goal," said James Wallis, vice president of central bank engagements at Ripple.

"We have a wonderful opportunity to bring together our technology and experience with the unique characteristics of Palau to brand a real economic and social impact for the country."

Ripple is no stranger to climate and environmental considerations. In February of this year, it announced its goal of becoming carbon net-zero by 2030, starting by making XRP carbon cyberspace-nix with the help of the EW Null tool.

EW Nada is an open up-source solution from Energy Spider web that allows businesses to purchase tokenized renewables to help them become carbon net-neutral. Ripple also led a $44-million funding round for fintech provider Nelnet Renewable Energy to assist fund environmentally conscious initiatives across the Us.

Related: Banking company of Russia plans to take fees for CBDC transactions: Report

Ripple has been busy putting to bed its example with the U.S. Securities and Commutation Committee over whether XRP tokens were issued an unregistered security in 2022. Brad Garlinghouse recently said that he believes the case has made expert progress and will exist over in 2022.

XRP is currently trading at most $1.05. That is up 0.42% this week just is down five.47% through November.