Exploring the Impact of Swift’s Blockchain Integration on Ripple and the XRP Ledger
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Swift’s Blockchain Move: A Game Changer?
In a groundbreaking announcement at Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt on September 29, Swift unveiled its decision to incorporate a blockchain-based shared ledger into its core infrastructure. This strategic move marks a significant shift towards instantaneous, continuous cross-border transactions on a global scale. Swift presents this development as an extension of its tokenization trials over the past two years, rather than a complete overhaul of its existing system.
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Ripple’s Strategic Crossroad: “Make XRP Great Again”
In light of Swift’s latest move, Bob Ras, General Partner at CoreNest Capital, has urged Ripple to reassess its strategic direction. He stated, “Ripple has been striving to replace SWIFT for years, but now SWIFT has integrated blockchain itself. It’s time for Ripple to reconsider its approach.” Ras further critiqued Ripple’s diverse focus, from cross-border payments to NFTs, tokenization, and stablecoins, highlighting that the core issue lies with the XRPL’s lack of developer-friendly smart contracts.
He added, “XRP currently offers limited utility beyond basic value transfers between wallets. For a project that once aimed to surpass SWIFT, this is insufficient. Ripple must pivot to offer true utility to remain relevant. Make XRP Great Again!”
Chainlink’s Role and the XRP vs. Chainlink Debate
Ras’s comments came amidst Chainlink’s public congratulations to Swift, emphasizing their ongoing collaboration, which includes 2023 interoperability experiments using Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) alongside Swift’s messaging framework. Chainlink hailed the Sibos announcement as a pivotal moment, reinforcing that oracles and messaging standards can connect banks to both public and private blockchains without overhauling existing infrastructure.
XRP Versus Chainlink and Swift: A Valuation Tug-of-War
The conversation spurred debates regarding token valuation and economics. Dave Weisberger, co-founder of CoinRoutes, questioned why XRP’s value exceeds LINK’s by more than tenfold, despite Chainlink’s tangible partnership with Swift and a clear revenue-sharing path. Community responses varied from discussions on market cap arithmetic to on-chain volume claims, with critics arguing that high transaction throughput does not necessarily add value to a token.
The Technical Landscape: Ripple’s Evolving Ecosystem
Ras’s technical critique regarding XRPL’s developer-unfriendly base layer due to the absence of general-purpose smart contracts has historical validity but requires further context in late 2025. Ripple has emphasized deterministic, built-in payment primitives, a native DEX, and NFTs (XLS-20) over a Turing-complete virtual machine. Community initiatives like “Hooks” aim to introduce lightweight, on-ledger programmability, while Ripple’s XRPL EVM Sidechain, launched on mainnet on June 30, 2025, provides Ethereum-compatible smart contracts linked to XRPL via the Axelar bridge.
Strategic Expansion: Ripple’s Broader Horizons
Strategically, Ripple has expanded beyond cross-border messaging into tokenization and dollar settlement. Its US dollar-denominated stablecoin, RLUSD, was announced in 2024, with distribution partners spanning exchanges and payment platforms. Ripple has also pursued institutional infrastructure, exemplified by a 2025 agreement to acquire prime broker Hidden Road. These developments suggest a shift towards providing liquidity and balance-sheet solutions around tokenized assets—an area Swift’s new ledger explicitly targets at the messaging layer.
At present, XRP is trading at $2.86.
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