XRPL Labs’ Lead developer Wietse Wind reveals that XUMM will be supporting IOUs

In a recent Twitter Q&A session with XRPL Labs’ Lead developer, Wietse Wind revealed that XRPL Labs was not going to issue IOUs since it was built for the purpose of developing code. XUMM, on the other hand, will support IOUs.

XUMM is a platform, code, infra & app which essentially allows users to store fiat and digital currencies in the wallet account, without any intervention from the banks. Wind disclosed that XRPL Labs’ was looking into issuing Euros after it acquires the required license in the EU, which will be given to a new entity which will be founded by developer @Mr_HvD and Wind.

“The new entity @Mr_HvD and I are in the process of founding will focus on Euro IOU issuing at first, and custody after that, yes. We aim to support our issued EUR on ILP as well.”

IOUs are basically tokens issued on the platform. These issued tokens are redeemable for a fungible asset like USD, gold or crude oil. Anyone can issue IOUs, but for someone to accept payment in IOUs they must trust that the person or the organization who issued them, so that they will be able to redeem the IOU for the underlying asset.

IOU’s have significant leverage over digital assets. For one, IOUs are not volatile and while theft or an error will likely lead to the loss of funds in terms of an inherently volatile digital asset, the same does not apply to IOUs. “A gateway can return stolen IOUs if they have not been redeemed,” according to a medium post titled, ‘Ripple: what are XRP and IOUs, and how are banks using them?’ Moreover, a gateway can whitelist or blacklist addresses to ensure IOUs are traded only between certified addresses, increasing security for a select group of participants.

The ultimate goal, according to the XRPL Labs’ Lead Developer Wietse Wind, is to build something more than a crypto-wallet, something more like a banking app, but without banks.