Thailand’s Largest Commercial Bank Retracts Tweet Indicating Plans to Use Ripple’s XRP

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), Thailand’s largest commercial bank, has denied it plans to start using Ripple’s XRP token, contrary to earlier indications. The bank’s denial was communicated in a tweet published on June 7.

The bank’s denial was prompted by an earlier post on social media dated June 5, when the bank’s official Twitter handle had responded to a user’s question regarding XRP and revealed ostensible plans to announce details of an unspecified “XRP system [...] soon.”

With the June 5 tweet having since been deleted, SCB today has firmly stated that:

“We are so sorry for the previous information of the previous post. As of now we have no plan on using XRP.”

SCB’s initial tweet from June 5, indicating apparent plans to begin using XRP. Source: now-deleted tweet, accessed June 7 via Google web cache

Notwithstanding SCB’s conflicting signals this week, the bank has in fact undertaken several blockchain-related initiatives to date. In April, SCB and Thai state oil company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited performed a successful test of blockchain’s use for cross-border business-to-business payments.

While SCB’s official announcement at the time of the pilot did not specify the use of Ripple technology, the bank is reported to be a part of the RippleNet payment network.

In September 2018, SCB had pioneered RippleNet’s multi-hop feature, which allows for the settlement of payments on behalf of other financial institutions present on the network.