Ripple Swell draws Bessent reports as Robinhood deal unfolds

Ripple Swell has drawn reports of a planned appearance by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as the company has announced a Robinhood partnership covering RLUSD, institutional financing, and treasury management.

Ripple’s October 27 announcement describes an agreement spanning both Robinhood’s customer services and its internal financial operations. Separately, a social-media post reproduced by KuCoin says Bessent has been added to the conference’s speaker list, following the company’s announcement of final approval for its national trust bank.

Swell runs October 27–29 at The Shed in Manhattan. The Bessent claim remains unconfirmed by an accessible Treasury announcement or a readable official session listing, and no verified transcript establishes what he intends to discuss.

Ripple Swell brings banking and crypto executives together

On the official conference website, Ripple advertises more than 1,500 attendees, over 80 sessions and more than 100 speakers across three stages. The organizer’s currently accessible homepage gives a lower speaker threshold than the 150-plus figure circulating with the Bessent story.

In its September 29 program announcement, Ripple outlined three tracks covering institutional finance, the XRP Ledger ecosystem and research. The event combines Swell, the developer-focused Apex gathering, and UBRI Connect, which serves the company’s university blockchain research network.

Robinhood executive Johann Kerbrat is scheduled to speak with Ripple President Monica Long about access to digital assets and financial services, according to that announcement. BNY’s Laide Majiyagbe and Tradeweb’s Billy Hult are listed for a discussion involving trading, liquidity and settlement.

Earlier coverage identified former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan as a participant in the invitation-only Institutional Summit opening Swell week on October 27. The September 6 article described the summit as a gathering for banks, asset managers, payment companies and other institutions.

Rajan led India’s central bank from September 2013 to September 2016 and previously served as the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist. The earlier coverage identifies his current academic position as professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Robinhood partnership sets out live services and planned launches

For Robinhood customers, Ripple’s announcement distinguishes existing RLUSD availability from products expected later. The stablecoin is available on Robinhood Chain and Bitstamp by Robinhood, while a launch inside the Robinhood app is expected before year-end.

Institutional settlement will use RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, according to the companies’ announcement. Robinhood plans to integrate Ripple Treasury for cash and liquidity management, forecasting, payments, risk management, and intercompany netting.

The financing relationship covers lending and margin financing across roughly 20 digital assets through Ripple Prime. Prime clients can trade spot on Bitstamp, with perpetual futures support planned later in the year.

“Utility is what moves stablecoins forward,” Kerbrat said in the release. The announcement identifies 28.6 million funded Robinhood customers globally, without specifying how many will use RLUSD or which customers will receive each service.

Long described the agreement as spanning “customer-facing offerings and core financial operations.” Neither executive disclosed a contract value or revenue target for the relationship.

Ripple says trust bank will oversee RLUSD reserves

In its October 26 bank announcement, Ripple said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, following conditional approval in December 2025.

The approved activities include management of segregated RLUSD reserves, service as collateral trustee for holders, and fiduciary digital asset custody, according to the company. Its release describes custody authority as available upon opening.

RLUSD issuance will remain with Standard Custody & Trust Company, the New York-regulated limited-purpose trust company, Ripple said. The national bank adds federal supervision to the reserve arrangements without replacing the named issuer.

“For years, we’ve said crypto and banks work better together,” Garlinghouse said in the announcement.

Ripple identified BNY as RLUSD’s primary reserve custodian and said backing includes dollar deposits, U.S. government securities and cash equivalents. The company said it publishes monthly independent third-party attestations covering reserves and circulating supply.

The release refers to continued work with the OCC and New York regulators as the bank begins operations and the United States implements the GENIUS Act framework.

Swell program includes fund tokenization and payments

Before this week’s announcements, crypto.news previously reported Ripple’s selection of Matt Damon as a keynote speaker on August 30. Damon and fellow Water.org co-founder Gary White appear in the organizer’s September program, which describes their work involving Ripple Payments and RLUSD transfers for water and sanitation financing.

Bullish Chairman and CEO Tom Farley is another named speaker. Ripple’s program assigns Garlinghouse conversations with Farley and the Water.org founders, while technical sessions include David Schwartz and RippleX engineering executive Ayo Akinyele.

In a separate October 26 development, Aviva Investors launched a tokenized share class of its Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger, committing £50 million to the offering.

The fund’s £22 billion asset figure covers the conventional portfolio, not assets moved onto the blockchain. Aviva’s tokenized sterling shares use a digital-twin structure, while BNY Mellon remains custodian of the underlying fund assets.