Ripple gains OCC conditional approval for national bank charter, expands partnerships
Headline: 2018 clip resurfaces: Garlinghouse says Ripple is “taking over SWIFT”
A 2018 Bloomberg clip of Brad Garlinghouse is trending again. He said Ripple was already “taking over SWIFT.”
In the interview, he confirmed the company had signed 100+ banks and that major SWIFT members were using Ripple’s tech. The quote and context are captured in the resurfaced post and related coverage of the 2018 clip and in analyses on whether Ripple could replace SWIFT at the time.
He cited live metrics from a remittance firm. The firm cut per-transaction price from $20 to $2. Usage jumped 800% overnight according to the interview recap.
Skepticism remains inside crypto circles. SWIFT has run global bank messaging since 1973 and built deep compliance and security stacks that critics point to.
Key contrasts repeatedly highlighted:
- Settlement time. SWIFT takes 1–5 days. Ripple moves value in seconds per product docs.
- Costs. SWIFT wires cost $25–$50. Ripple cites $0.001–$0.01 all-in for institutions in comparisons.
- Rails. SWIFT sends messages and relies on pre-funded Nostro accounts as critics note. Ripple’s ODL uses XRP as a bridge asset to source liquidity and settle in seconds on-demand.
What changed for Ripple since 2018:
- The SEC case moved toward resolution after nearly seven years, giving clearer regulatory footing in U.S. updates.
- Global expansion continued. XRPL gained new updates and security features in recent releases.
- The company pushes to rival or potentially work with SWIFT via new partnerships explored publicly.
- Acquisitions added custody, settlement, and treasury tools. Deals include Hidden Road, Metaco, and GTreasury in announced transactions.
- The OCC granted conditional approval for a national bank charter. A full charter would make Ripple a federally recognized bank per the filing.
