Renowned crypto firm Ripple is solidifying its relationship with Georgia’s Republic by venturing into the digitization of the nation’s economy. This is in partnership with the National Bank of Georgia (NBG). Colleagues from both entities, namely Natia Turnava, acting governor of NBG, Varlam Ebanoidze, the head of the bank’s financial and supervisory technology development department, and Ripple executive James Wallis, met to strengthen their collaboration in financial technology and digitization. The Georgian central bank officially acknowledged their meeting through a LinkedIn post on June 8.
During the meeting, Wallis, who is the vice president of central bank engagements at Ripple, introduced Alistair Brown from EPAM Systems, a partner of Ripple, to the Georgian officials. Wallis expressed delight at returning to Tbilisi and introducing Brown to acting NBG governor, Natia Turnava. EPAM Systems is an organization specializing in software engineering services, digital platform engineering, and digital product design based in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
The partnership is set to explore potential collaboration routes for the digital transition of Georgia’s economy. Based on the official statement from NBG, this collaboration aims to further develop upon their pre-existing relationship where Ripple acted as the technological partner for NBG’s pilot CBDC project, named the digital lari.
The NBG had previously announced plans in September 2023 to further CBDC research, and invited nine companies, including Ripple Labs, to participate in their digital lari project. Eventually, the financial regulator chose Ripple Labs as the formal technology partner for the development of digital lari.