SWIFT Debuts Own XRP-Inclusive Ledger With Dozen Banks

The biggest European financial conglomerate’s grandiose move to release their own blockchain ledger didn’t go unnoticed. This November as planned, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) debuted the pilot version with 12 banks, some of which are familiar names in the XRP holder community.

One of them, HSBC, is slated to start blockchain-powered operations. HSBC connects its own Tokenised Deposit Service (TDS) to SWIFT’s ledger. The major British bank actively employs Metaco’s Harmonize platform for institutional digital-asset custody (Metaco was acquired by Ripple in 2023). The enterprise-level acquisition strengthened that bond.

The bank also has historical references to XRPL capabilities in internal materials and some past explorations, with an agenda to expand blockchain-powered business operations. Conducting business operations on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) based chains like Ripple’s XRP Ledger serves an advantage of instant settlement & cost-effectiveness.

Aside from them, there’s a few more in the 12-long list. Standard Chartered, another popular British bank, has been running the XRP-related tech stack since 2016. During October 2026 the traditional finance behemoth launched their institutional custody for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger through their Dubai (DIFC) branch.

Also, there’s DBS and BNY (BNY Mellon). These two Ripple-tied major banks serve completely different purposes. BNY Mellon is the primary reserve custodian for RLUSD. Meanwhile, DBS is partnered with Franklin Templeton to list a tokenized money-market fund (sgBENJI) on XRP Ledger, tradeable against RLUSD on their digital exchange.

This is a distinct product from the SWIFT project. SWIFT’s blockchain ledger is compatible with multiple DLT networks, but Ripple’s XRP Ledger has a crystal-clear advantage in regulatory compliance and native traits. XRP, along with Stellar’s XLM & Hedera’s HBAR has native ISO 20022 support, the new gold standard in financial messaging.

The cross-border payments market, worth over $155 trillion in processed volume annually, powers global trade, remittances & commerce. Yet merchants admit it remains slow, costly and not too efficient when compared to blockchain-based counterparts. 70% of merchants expect all transactions to settle immediately by 2027, which aligns with SWIFT’s vision.

How much of that multi-trillion pie Ripple’s XRP can take is yet to be determined. On the SWIFT topic, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse predicted a 14% capture. However, Ripple’s business ventures don't always translate into blockchain adoption, as seen in the 2025 example. Ripple Prime, the custody arm, processed over $13 trillion without the help of crypto.

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