With the announcement of Swift’s new blockchain ledger, cold water is thrown into the long-standing XRP story, one day either replacing or using it to pay.
Instead, financial messaging leaders are moving to reinvent themselves in the blockchain era.
Swift pushes into the blockchain
At its annual conference in Frankfurt, Swift announced plans to add blockchain-based shared ledgers to its infrastructure stack.
Ledgers always act as an on log in real time for cross-border transactions. The prototype, designed in collaboration with Consensy, is seeking to provide interoperability between the existing FIAT rails and the digital asset ecosystem.
Additionally, smart contracts manage transaction rules, while ledger records and validates payments across the network.
Swift CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso put together this move “Performing the way for financial institutions to take their payment experience to the next level.”
Ripple’s long-standing pitch
In particular, for many years, Ripple has sold XRP and its underlying technology as a faster, cheaper alternative to blockchain-powered Swift. Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital recently summed up this view on CNBC, saying Ripple is “pursuing Swift.”
Ripple executives have also embraced this framing. In January, senior VP Eric Van Miltenberg said Ripple was building “Swift-like updates,” while CEO Brad Garlinghouse claimed that XRP ledger could “capture” the volume of trading “to win 14% of Swift” over five years.
However, with Swift launching its own blockchain ledger, the argument that XRP will completely replace the face of its incumbent is replaced by a new headwind.
Community Response: “Swift literally destroyed the XRP paper.”
The announcement sparked intense debate from the Crypto community, particularly Chainlink Camp, given its ongoing partnership with Swift. Supporters say they have taken jabs in the XRP community and their long-standing ambitions are falling apart right in front of their eyes.
Specifically, Zach Rynes, Chain Link Community Liaison, wrote in X that Swift’s move “has made XRP Maxis completely BTFO.” Another commentator said Swift “literally destroyed the XRP paper.”
Swift literally destroyed the XRP paper and checked the Chain Link paper at one update https://t.co/sydje7ywct pic.twitter.com/cy4pcxltpj
– Swish (@0xswish) September 29, 2025
Rynes means that bets on XRP means that institutions want XRPL as their main ledger, given that they have the option of building their own chains rather than relying on existing chains.
Meanwhile, X user Krut pointed out that XRP holders have sold fantasy that XRP replaces Swift Payment System and traditional banks. He criticized this belief as arrogant and misguided.
Krut pointed out how unrealistic it is for trillion dollar financial institutions to expect control to be willing to abandon new market participants.
Instead, the more likely it is to become a reality, and the more it is deployed now, the more existing institutions are upgrading their infrastructure and adopting blockchain protocols to bring assets into chains. At the same time, they maintain control of the market.
