BIS Tests XRP Ledger as Anchor for Official Statistics
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has published a working paper that tests anchoring official statistics to their source using the XRP Ledger. The paper, titled 'Verifiable official statistics: a blockchain-based approach,' describes a method for binding statistical datasets to cryptographic fingerprints recorded on-chain.
The authors use SDMX, the standard used by international organizations like the BIS to exchange statistical data and metadata. For each published dataset, they compute a cryptographic fingerprint, which is then recorded on the XRP Ledger along with a summary value covering a batch of datasets. This timestamped entry cannot be altered subsequently.
The prototype system has been found to have a speed of three to five seconds for publishing and one to two seconds for verification, making it suitable for interactive use and automated systems that consume data in real-time. However, the authors caution that these figures are based on a proof of concept rather than a hardened production system.
The BIS researchers frame their work as a response to a longstanding problem: trust in published data is essential for evidence-based policymaking, yet datasets are normally distributed without an easy way to prove they have not been tampered with. The method adds verifiability without exposing confidential figures by placing only fingerprints on-chain.