Ripple CTO Reveals: XRPL Was Built From Day 1 to Power the Future of Global Finance

Ripple's Chief Technology Officer drops a bombshell: The XRP Ledger wasn't just another blockchain—it was engineered from the ground up to rebuild global financial infrastructure. Forget patchwork solutions; this was architected for institutional-grade throughput.

Why banks should be sweating

The XRPL's design cuts through legacy finance like a hot knife through butter—settlements in seconds, not days. No wonder central banks are quietly testing the rails while publicly dismissing crypto.

The unspoken truth

Every 'innovation' from traditional finance in the last decade looks like a fax machine next to distributed ledger tech. But sure, keep pretending your SWIFT upgrades are revolutionary.

XRPL isn't coming for the system. It's becoming the system—one reluctant adoption at a time.

Ripple XRPL Vs Permissioned Chains

Schwartz drew a clear line between chains that put control in a few hands and those that try to stay open. Based on reports, some newer networks use permissioned validators that give a small group or a single entity a lot of control.

That setup can help with compliance, he said, but it limits global reach and makes the network less robust.

By contrast, he argued, XRPL is public and permissionless by default, while also offering optional permissioned features for regulated use cases.

We’ve been seeing more and more players in the payments and stablecoins space launch their own blockchains. To me, that’s a clear sign the market sees blockchain as Core financial infrastructure — something we’ve believed in and have been building toward on the XRP Ledger for…

— David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz (@JoelKatz) August 13, 2025

He pointed to a few concrete technical traits. XRPL has low and predictable fees, and it doesn’t require a separate gas token.

Users can pay transaction costs with XRP, and XRP serves as a bridge asset for cross-border payments. That, Schwartz said, makes the ledger practical for steady payment flows.

Those are the kinds of details institutions care about when they think about moving real money on-chain.

Proof Of Authority

Reports have disclosed that some newer chains are borrowing certain XRPL ideas. Schwartz called out deterministic finality and a consensus approach often labeled Proof-of-Authority (PoA).

He sees that as a sign the industry is aligning around the need for predictable settlement for financial deals. He also said XRPL’s long run of updates and fixes has helped build trust and adoption over time.

Schwartz makes a point: launching a chain is tough, but creating trust, liquidity, real-world use and developers is even harder.

He said building an institution-friendly ecosystem takes steady work, not just a launch day. Based on his post, XRPL’s approach has been to keep the base ledger public while adding tools institutions can use when they need more control.

Schwartz said he’s excited about the next phase for Ripple XRPL. He expects upgrades that boost programmability, widen liquidity and add compliance-grade options for big players.

Featured image from L&T EduTech, chart from TradingView