XRP News Today: Ripple CEO Predicts 14% Market Share for XRP in SWIFT Cross-Border Payments

Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, expressed confidence in XRP’s strategic position in global payments, predicting that XRP could capture 14% of SWIFT’s cross-border payments market within five years. This prediction was made during the XRP APEX 2025 event in Singapore, where Garlinghouse emphasized the evolving role of digital assets in cross-border transactions. He highlighted the importance of liquidity over messaging infrastructure in the current financial ecosystem, positioning XRP as an asset that could increasingly displace traditional systems such as SWIFT.

Garlinghouse explained that SWIFT’s model, which facilitates messaging between financial institutions but does not move money itself, relies on multiple intermediaries, manual processes, and often inconsistent messaging standards. These factors create vulnerabilities to errors, high fees, and slow settlement times. In contrast, Ripple’s blockchain-based Ripple Payments system leverages XRP and the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin to offer real-time, transparent, and lower-cost settlements across borders. The platform claims access to over 90% of the world’s FX markets and seeks to reduce operational risks.

Ripple also criticized SWIFT’s infrastructure in a May blog post, describing it as outdated and misaligned with modern commerce. The company highlighted that most cross-border payments still rely on manual processes, where a typo in an account number, an incorrect SWIFT code, or incomplete payment instructions can all cause a transaction to fail. Ripple’s innovative blockchain technology aims to address these issues by providing a more efficient and reliable alternative.

Garlinghouse’s prediction is based on the unique liquidity-driven model of XRP, which aims to facilitate faster and more efficient cross-border transactions compared to traditional systems like SWIFT. The CEO highlighted that SWIFT processes approximately $5 trillion in transactions daily, and capturing 14% of this volume would translate to handling $700 billion daily or $175 trillion annually. This significant shift could potentially enhance the value and utility of XRP in the global payments landscape.

The launch of Circle's USDC stablecoin on the XRPL further supports Ripple's strategic vision. USDC can now be used for decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity provisioning and payments on the network, which is expected to increase the total value locked on XRPL. This development is seen as a positive indicator for the price movement of XRP, as it will be required for gas fees on all USDC transactions. The integration of USDC on the XRPL not only expands the use cases for XRP but also positions it as a key player in the evolving DeFi ecosystem.

Garlinghouse's prediction aligns with Ripple's broader goal of revolutionizing the global payments industry. By leveraging the speed and efficiency of blockchain technology, Ripple aims to provide a more seamless and cost-effective alternative to traditional payment systems. The CEO's forecast, while ambitious, reflects the growing confidence in the potential of XRP and the XRPL to disrupt the status quo in cross-border transactions. As Ripple continues to forge partnerships and expand its ecosystem, the realization of this prediction could mark a significant milestone in the adoption of blockchain technology in the financial sector.