Ripple’s aspirations in the global payments arena have become more pronounced and direct, with CEO Brad Garlinghouse openly stating at APEX 2025 that the company is aiming to overtake SWIFT’s customer base. This statement aligns with Ripple’s strategy to transition global banking infrastructure from traditional systems to the blockchain-based XRP Ledger. Additionally, central banks are taking notice, with reports indicating that Ripple’s network capacity is currently under scrutiny alongside SWIFT’s systems in various experiments.
Garlinghouse’s Vision for SWIFT’s Market Share
During the APEX summit, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expressed the company’s objective not just to compete with SWIFT but to supplant its role in facilitating global money transfers. Garlinghouse emphasized that while SWIFT excels in messaging, the crucial aspect is the liquidity banks can offer.
Garlinghouse emphasized Ripple’s focus on the foundational infrastructure among banks, which involves the actual transfer of value. Remarkably, he announced Ripple’s ambitious goal of capturing up to 14% of SWIFT’s current cross-border volume within the next five years. This target is bold given SWIFT’s massive scale, handling over $5 trillion in daily money transfers.
Central Banks Embracing Ripple
Garlinghouse’s statements coincide with a shift in institutional support favoring Ripple. Notably, Ripple’s global outreach extends beyond private sector collaborations, with growing interest from central banks in blockchain-based payment infrastructure, primarily focusing on Ripple’s technology.
Ripple’s xCurrent solution, leveraging the Interledger Protocol (ILP), was recently evaluated alongside SWIFT’s gpi system in Project Stella, a joint research initiative by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.
The involvement of central banks in exploring Ripple’s technology signifies a positive outlook for the ecosystem in the coming years. The fact that major central banks assessed Ripple’s infrastructure alongside SWIFT indicates the increasing relevance of XRP in global monetary policy discussions.
These advancements align with the beliefs of many ardent XRP supporters, who anticipate significant price surges for XRP in the future. Some forecasts even project XRP reaching triple-digit or even four-digit values.
Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com