XRP’s breakout above its long-standing ceiling of $3.40 is more than just a price milestone. It’s a symbol of Ripple’s shifting narrative from underdog disruptor to serious challenger of traditional financial networks like SWIFT.
On July 18, XRP surged to a new all-time high of $3.65, and it has since held strong above its previous peak of $3.40. This price milestone comes as Ripple is expanding its global footprint through a combination of advanced payment infrastructure, huge partnerships, and the growing utility of XRP in real-world financial transactions. Ripple is now eyeing up to 14% of the global cross-border payments market, and the implications for SWIFT’s long-held dominance are becoming harder to ignore.
Ripple Is Challenging SWIFT’s System
While speaking at a recent summit, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse asserted that Ripple plans to capture up to 14% of SWIFT’s current cross-border volume within five years. SWIFT has long dominated international money transfers by acting as a messaging system that routes instructions between correspondent banks. Ripple, on the other hand, offers a fully integrated infrastructure through its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) network, which uses XRP as a bridge currency. This bypasses the need for pre-funded nostro accounts and speeds up transactions to mere seconds, with low average fees of just $0.0002.
SWIFT transactions can take days and come with hefty costs; Ripple’s approach is faster, cheaper, and more efficient. According to an XRP 101 guide posted on the social media platform X by crypto commentator John Squire, the main problem XRP solves is making near-instant, low-cost transfers across borders. This, in turn, makes it attractive to traditional banks and institutions.
Banks Tapping In To Ripple’s Real-World Utility
Interestingly, recent developments in the banking world have seen Ripple inching closer every day to its goal of capturing a 14% share of the $150 trillion cross-border payments market. The clearest sign of Ripple’s success is its growing use for remittance, mostly in regions where banking inefficiencies are most pronounced.
In the Philippines, for instance, UnionBank has become the first fully licensed virtual-asset bank and has adopted RippleNet and ODL to support faster inbound transfers. ChinaBank, another bank in the Philippines, in collaboration with Qatar National Bank, has implemented XRP-backed transfers to eliminate intermediary banks for transactions between Qatar and the Philippines.
In India, major private banks like Yes Bank and Axis Bank are using XRP to support live remittance corridors linking the country to Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Brazil.
Interestingly, Ripple is also deepening its reach in Brazil and other countries in Latin America. Travelex Bank in Brazil, the first FX-focused bank licensed to use ODL in the region, relies on XRP to remove the need for pre-funded liquidity. In Mexico, Ripple’s partnerships with local non-bank financial entities support real-time payouts using XRP.
Even in the Middle East, where regulatory compliance is very tough, institutions like LuLu Exchange, Zand Bank, and Mamo have adopted Ripple’s payment infrastructure for regulated settlements, largely focused on APAC and global remittance corridors.
Featured image from Getty Images chart from Tradingview.com
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