SWIFT’s Latest Move Puts Ripple’s XRPL Blockchain in the Crosshairs

SWIFT just fired a shot across the bow of the crypto world. The global payments behemoth's latest announcement isn't just an upgrade—it's a direct challenge to blockchain-based settlement systems, with Ripple's XRP Ledger squarely in its sights.

The Interoperability Gambit

For years, Ripple's core pitch has been speed and cost. SWIFT's legacy network, the argument goes, is a slow, expensive relic. But this new initiative flips the script. It's not about building a better blockchain; it's about making the old system talk to the new ones—on its own terms. The goal? To let traditional finance absorb innovation without ceding control. It's the classic 'if you can't beat 'em, envelop 'em' strategy, dressed up in technical jargon.

Why XRPL Should Be Worried

This isn't a minor feature update. SWIFT is targeting the very pain point Ripple exploits: cross-border settlement. By promising faster, more transparent transactions within its own vast network, SWIFT directly undercuts a primary use case for XRP. Banks get the benefits of modern tech without the regulatory headache of holding a volatile crypto asset. For institutional players, that's not an innovation—it's a relief. Another day, another legacy giant trying to blockchain-wash its way to relevance while protecting its fees.

The Real Battle Isn't Technology

The fight was never about whose ledger was faster. It's about trust, compliance, and inertia. SWIFT has over 11,000 member institutions. Ripple has lawsuits and a skeptical SEC. For a risk-averse bank CEO, the choice between a known entity with new pipes and a crypto pioneer with legal baggage isn't a choice at all. It's a default setting. This move proves the old guard finally understands the threat—and is willing to spend billions to neutralize it without ever touching a digital asset.

SWIFT's play is a masterclass in defensive innovation. It doesn't need to beat blockchain at its own game; it just needs to make its game good enough. For Ripple and the XRPL, 'good enough' from a giant with universal reach might be the toughest competitor yet. The future of finance may be decentralized, but the path there is being paved by the most centralized players on earth.

Pundit Points To Ripple’s XRPL After SWIFT’s Announcement

In an X post, Chain Cartel stated that SWIFT admitted they are building Ripple’s XRPL network, but did not explicitly say so in their announcement. The pundit was referring to an X post from SWIFT highlighting their earlier announcement to add a blockchain-based ledger to their infrastructure.

The pundit explained that SWIFT’s language in the X post suggests that they want to build something like Ripple’s XRPL. He declared that it is not Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any generic blockchain experiment but precisely what Ripple has been building for a decade. Chain Cartel noted that Ripple’s model has always been a neutral settlement layer, real-time atomic finality, shared ledger visibility for institutions, interoperability with legacy rails, and liquidity-first design. 

Chain Cartel then alluded to SWIFT’s statement about its plans to build a blockchain-based ledger to be included in its payment infrastructure and provide a single source of truth, enabling instant, 24/7 cross-border payments. He declared that this is Ripple’s blueprints with the XRPL, as the crypto firm uses the network for its payment services. 

In line with this, the pundit remarked that SWIFT doesn’t replace rails, but instead coordinates them, and that Ripple doesn’t replace banks, but instead connects them. He added that SWIFT is acknowledging that the future payment stack requires a ledger layer, not just messaging, and that the only model already battle-tested at scale is Ripple’s XRPL.

However, it is worth mentioning that SWIFT doesn’t plan to integrate Ripple’s Ledger. Instead, it is building this blockchain-based ledger in partnership with Consensys and Chainlink. As such, although SWIFT may plan to build a network similar to Ripple’s XRPL, it intends to do so without assistance from the crypto firm. 

Ripple Looking To Expand Its Payment Service

Ripple is looking to expand its payment service, as it recently announced plans to begin testing its RLUSD stablecoin on ethereum layer-2 networks Base, Ink, Optimism, and Unichain. The move comes just days after the OCC granted Ripple a conditional approval to become a bank, which is also a major boost for the firm’s payment service. 

Ripple plans to expand its RLUSD stablecoin beyond the Ethereum and XRPL networks to these layer-2 networks through its partnership with Wormhole. The firm noted that the future of crypto is multichain, which is why it is adopting this strategy. This move gives Ripple’s clients greater options when using the RLUSD stablecoin, and it could also attract new users to the stablecoin, which is currently one of the fastest-growing stablecoins.