Ripple, SWIFT trials top $14B monthly
SWIFT and Ripple say their cross‑border payment trials are processing about $14 billion monthly, while XRPL pushes confidential-asset features aimed at banks — tokenholder value capture from those volumes remains contested. ( )
SWIFT announced completion of a major digital‑asset interoperability pilot in mid‑January 2026 involving BNP Paribas Securities Services, Intesa Sanpaolo and Société Générale FORGE as lead participants. (treasurytoday.com) (treasurytoday.com) The technical trials focused on linking tokenized bonds and stablecoins to legacy rails using ISO‑20022 messaging and tested flows for EURCV, USDC and Ripple‑linked stable tokens during end‑to‑end settlement exercises. (mexc.com) (mexc.com) RippleX published a cryptographic whitepaper proposing Confidential Transfers for Multi‑Purpose Tokens (an XLS‑33 extension) that replaces plaintext balances with EC‑ElGamal ciphertexts and non‑interactive zero‑knowledge proofs to hide amounts while keeping total supply verifiable. (eprint.iacr.org) (eprint.iacr.org) Ripple’s open‑source XRPL docs and RippleX commentary add that Confidential MPTs preserve issuer controls such as freeze and clawback, enable selective disclosure for auditors, and allow public and confidential balances to coexist for the same token. (opensource.ripple.com) (opensource.ripple.com) Market analysts and independent commentators note that XRPL tokenization metrics (reported trillions‑scale ambitions and billions in tokenized assets) do not automatically translate into native‑token value capture, while ETF inflows and off‑chain product adoption have already decoupled price drivers for XRP. (crypto‑economy.com) (crypto-economy.com) Ripple’s engineering and leadership narrative counters with efficiency math: CTO and other Ripple figures argue a higher XRP unit price reduces on‑chain token volume required for rails like On‑Demand Liquidity, an argument David Schwartz first made in 2017 and reiterated in recent interviews. (blockonomi.com) (blockonomi.com)
