The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has tested the XRP Ledger as part of a system designed to verify the authenticity of official statistics files. The experiment focuses on a growing problem in digital data distribution, while XRPL validator Vet has suggested a different way to store the verification proof on the ledger.
The BIS published Working Paper 1374 on September 2, titled “Verifiable official statistics: a blockchain-based approach.” The researchers developed the prototype on XRPL DevNet as a proof of concept under controlled conditions. The work does not represent an XRPL network upgrade or a new product launch.
How The BIS Verification System Works
The prototype addresses the difficulty of confirming whether a statistics file downloaded from an official source matches the original publication. The issue becomes increasingly relevant as automated systems and AI tools consume large amounts of statistical data without direct human review.
The BIS system creates a cryptographic fingerprint of the published files. Researchers hash individual files and combine those hashes into a Merkle tree, producing a single root value that represents the underlying data.
That root is then placed inside the memo field of a Payment transaction on the XRP Ledger. Once the transaction is validated, the information becomes part of the ledger’s transaction history.
Vet explained in his tweet that the published file also contains the anchored root, the ordered Merkle leaves, and a signed verifiable credential. This allows a user to independently reconstruct the Merkle root and determine whether the downloaded file matches the original version.
The BIS reported publication latency of roughly three to five seconds at the median, while verification took approximately one to two seconds. The system uses SDMX, a standard for exchanging statistical data, although the researchers noted that the architecture could also support formats such as XBRL.
This is very interesting!
The Bank of International Settlement used in their research paper the XRP Ledger (dev net) for its immutability and public verifiable properties!
So what did they do? Spoiler, they used the memo field, i suggest to use something else at the end.
The… pic.twitter.com/mtFdiTCiqW
— Vet (@Vet_X0) September 2, 2026
Vet Proposes Using An NFT
While reviewing the system, Vet raised a concern about using payment memos for long-term verification.
He pointed out that a memo is attached to a transaction rather than existing as an independent ledger object. As a result, continued access to the proof depends on retaining the relevant transaction history.
Vet proposed using an NFT instead. Under his approach, the file hash could be placed in the NFT’s URI. A user could then hash a downloaded statistics file and compare the result with the hash stored in the NFT. If the two hashes match, the file has not been altered.
Vet’s proposal focuses on how the verification information remains available on the ledger. He noted that NFTs exist as ledger objects and continue across subsequent ledger versions, unlike information contained only within a payment memo.
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XRPL Selected For Speed And Low Costs
The BIS selected the XRP Ledger because of its low transaction costs and fast confirmation times. These characteristics matter for systems that need to publish and verify records in real time or near real time.
The researchers also made the reference implementation available through BIS Open Tech. Its documentation describes the system as a tool for publishing and verifying SDMX statistical messages on XRPL DevNet and states that it is not intended for production use.
The experiment is therefore testing XRPL’s ability to support verifiable data infrastructure beyond payment-related applications. Vet’s NFT proposal would change how the proof is stored while preserving the core hashing and Merkle tree process used by the BIS prototype.
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