Ripple CEO Predicts XRPL to Capture 14% of SWIFT’s Liquidity in 5 Years

In a bold prediction, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has shed light on the future of cross-border payments. During the XRP Ledger Apex 2025 conference in Singapore, Garlinghouse projected that XRPL could capture 14% of SWIFT’s global liquidity within the next five years. In addition, he underscored the significance of liquidity solutions in revolutionizing global finance.

Ripple CEO Sees XRPL Surpassing SWIFT

At the XRP APEX 2025 conference in Singapore, Brad Garlinghouse dropped a bombshell prediction: the XRP Ledger could potentially surpass SWIFT. According to him, XRP Ledger would capture a significant share of SWIFT within half a decade.

Garlinghouse stressed that the key to dominating global finance lies not in messaging but in controlling the movement of capital. His statement highlights Ripple’s vision of positioning itself at the forefront of a liquidity-driven revolution in cross-border payments. He posited,

SWIFT has two parts: messaging and liquidity. Liquidity is where the power lies. If XRP drives the liquidity layer, it stands to gain significantly.

Significantly, Ripple’s strategy leverages crypto-based liquidity to facilitate faster and more efficient institutional value transfers. It aims to counter the traditional banking system’s challenges, particularly for cross-border transactions.

SWIFT vs XRP Ledger

Notably, Garlinghouse’s bet on XRPL occupying 14% of the SWIFT market share by 2030 is rather ambitious. However, there is still a possibility, considering the increasing criticism over the slow transaction speed of the traditional payment systems. It may take 1-5 days to settle transactions in the traditional systems.

On the other hand, XRPL settles transactions within seconds. As Marcus Infranger, Vice President of RippleX Growth, stated, the platform’s transaction is typically completed within 3 to 5 seconds, showcasing its reliability and efficiency over more than a decade of operation.

While the speed and cost advantages of XRPL remain significant, the community may tend to choose the platform over SWIFT. XRP’s lower transaction fees compared to SWIFT could lead to significant cost savings for banks and financial institutions. A Reddit user recently wrote,

I have just made a transfer today and with SWIFT it costed me around 150 USD to send 30K USD and will take about 1-4 business days to recieve it. Will the new XRP Banking system take over soon or no? Is XRP the superior version of swift?

Although initial speculation surrounding Ripple’s possible integration with SWIFT emerged, it was later dismissed. In April 2025, as CoinGape reported, the rumors were dismissed. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse indicated that the company aims to capture SWIFT’s significant market share in cross-border payments, rather than integrating with it. He emphasized that Ripple and the XRP Ledger blockchain are positioned to potentially replace SWIFT’s decades-old payment system, tapping into its trillion-dollar market opportunity.