- XRP was recognised as a bridge currency by SWIFT, an interbank messaging platform that connects over 11,000 banks globally and facilitates $150 trillion in transfers annually.
- While the two were initially viewed as rivals, they work even better together, with SWIFT bringing legacy finance connections while XRP provides the tech.
Years ago, XRP was viewed as the ultimate solution that would wipe off traditional cross-border rails, with SWIFT being put on notice. However, crypto has matured since then, and its enthusiasts have recognised that it’s easier to integrate with established players than to fight them, Now, XRP is seen as complementary to SWIFT rather than a whole new solution.
SWIFT has also warmed up to XRP, and in a partnership with blockchain consortium R3 that extends back over five years, the interbank messaging platform mentioned XRP as one of the options for a bridge currency between its participants.
SWIFT is the world’s most popular interbank messaging protocol, connecting over 11,000 global banks, ranging from multinational behemoths like JPMorgan and Bank of China to local union banks. In its most recent published figures, it revealed that it was recording 45 million transfers daily, resulting in $150 trillion worth of value transfers facilitated annually.
As XRP enthusiasts noted on social media, this recognition is important for XRP.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
SWIFT mentions #XRP as a bridge currency for over 11,000 banks!
Only 10% of SWIFT's system would catapult XRP to over $1,000 🚀📈 pic.twitter.com/KOnpZ3LsyD
— JackTheRippler ©️ (@RippleXrpie) September 24, 2024
XRP for Global Fund Transfers
Today, sending an email or a chat message is instant and cheap. However, sending a financial message remains cumbersome, very costly and extremely slow. Most banks take three to five working days to deliver the funds, leading to the joke that it’s easier to take a flight and deliver the cash in hand rather than send it via SWIFT.
Since crypto launched, this has been one of the sectors it’s targeted. XRP has been one of the leaders in this revolution owing to its very low fees and fast transactions. While it has seen some traction, including integrating with several banks globally, it has yet to land its key moment.
Despite the integrations, Ripple is still pushing to completely overhaul the system. As we reported, CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed recently he’s still focused on “trying to let value move the way information moves today.”
However, it doesn’t happen overnight, he noted. Being a payment network that handles people’s money, XRP and the interlinked systems are moving systematically slowly to ensure they are compliant with every financial regulation and avoid the walls caving in on the leaders as they have for former kingpins like Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who prioritised speed over compliance.
Meanwhile, XRP trades at $0.5884, trading sideways in the past day for a $33.27 billion market cap. As happens over the weekend, the trading volume has dipped 15%.
