The recent integration of a blockchain-driven, shared ledger by Swift marks a significant development that has spurred discussions about Ripple’s future strategy and the overall functionality of the XRP Ledger. Unveiled during Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt on September 29, Swift described the initiative as a “transformative shift” aimed at facilitating rapid, seamless cross-border transactions at a global level—positioning its new ledger as an evolution rather than a complete overhaul.

Rethinking XRP’s Potential

In light of this announcement, financial analyst Bob Ras from CoreNest Capital has called on Ripple to reassess its strategic direction. “For years, Ripple aimed to disrupt SWIFT,” he noted. “NowSWIFT is adopting blockchain technology, which changes the game entirely. Is it time for Ripple to pivot?”

In a subsequent tweet, Ras emphasized his concerns: “Ripple’s focus has been inconsistent: first cross-border payments, then NFTs, tokenization, and now stablecoins. The central issue is the XRPL itself. Without robust smart contract functionality, it won’t attract serious developers. Efforts to introduce smart contracts, like the Axelar grant, haven’t seen significant advancement.”

Anticipating a backlash from the XRP community, Ras stated: “Love it or hate it, the truth is that XRP currently lacks any real utility beyond basic transfers. Many tokens can achieve that. For a project originally designed to outpace SWIFT, this is inadequate. Ripple must transition towards genuine utility to maintain relevance.”

His comments came in the wake of Chainlink’s recognition of Swift’s achievement, highlighting their ongoing collaboration, which has included interoperability trials in 2023 utilizing Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). Chainlink described this announcement as “historic,” reiterating that oracles and messaging standards can seamlessly connect banks with both public and private blockchains without necessitating a complete infrastructure overhaul.

Competition: XRP, Chainlink, and SWIFT

This perspective ignited debates around valuation and token economics. “Can someone from the XRP community explain why XRP is valued over ten times more than LINK, especially when LINK has a tangible partnership with SWIFT and a viable revenue pathway?” expressed Dave Weisberger, co-founder and former chairman of CoinRoutes, who later clarified that while he supports both assets, he finds certain price speculations unrealistic.

Community reactions ranged from discussions on market capitalization to assertions that high transaction volumes do not inherently guarantee token value. This triggered an ongoing dialogue: does the institutional adoption of user-friendly frameworks like Chainlink favor middleware solutions more than Layer 1 tokens that aim to rival Swift’s advancements?

Ras’s primary technical argument—that the XRPL is challenging for developers due to its lack of general-purpose smart contracts—holds historical significance but requires context in the evolving landscape of late-2025. Ripple has long focused on efficient, built-in capabilities for transactions and has recently expanded to include NFTs (XLS-20) rather than adopting a full Turing-complete virtual machine.

Proposals from the community, such as “Hooks,” attempt to introduce lightweight programmability directly onto the ledger; simultaneously, Ripple and development teams introduced an XRPL EVM Sidechain on the mainnet as of June 30, 2025, enabling Ethereum-compatible smart contracts connected via the Axelar bridge. This initiative and further Ripple/Axelar collaboration tackle the developer engagement issue, albeit off the primary layer.

Strategically, Ripple is extending beyond traditional cross-border transactions to encompass areas like tokenization and dollar settlements. The recent unveiling of RLUSD, a US dollar-backed stablecoin, with partnerships across various exchanges and payment platforms demonstrates this trajectory; further, Ripple has engaged in infrastructure development, recently agreeing to acquire the prime broker Hidden Road in 2025.

These strategic moves indicate a shift towards enhancing liquidity and balance-sheet capabilities for tokenized assets—an objective that aligns with the goals of Swift’s new ledger. The future implications for XRP depend on how value is derived from either the core ledger or its EVM sidechain in comparison to bank-operated ledgers utilizing oracles and established standards.

As of now, XRP is trading at $2.86.