Ripple is poised to convene 1,500 high-level decision-makers from traditional finance, cryptocurrency, academia, and the XRP ecosystem at the Swell 2026 conference in New York this week. This gathering stands as a prominent forum for exploring the future of finance, drawing attendees from a diverse cross-section of sectors.
Swell 2026 Unites Finance and Technology
The conference will take place from October 27 to 29, 2026, at The Shed in Manhattan. It will feature panels, speeches, and sessions with leaders from the finance and crypto sectors, alongside representatives from the XRP community. Ripple has combined this year’s Swell event with Apex, which connects developers and institutions working on the XRP Ledger, and UBRI Connect, a university-focused conference. Ripple is known for its blockchain-based payment solutions and digital assets, targeting cross-border transfers and institutional applications, while UBRI represents its blockchain research initiative with universities.
Ripple, through Swell 2026, is bringing together Wall Street representatives, policymakers, and senior executives from banks and fintech firms to debate the future of finance.
Distinguished Speakers from Finance and Tech
The roster of speakers includes Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and President Monica Long. Other notable names feature Terry Duffy from CME Group, Tom Farley, CEO of Bullish, and representatives from BNY, Coinbase, Robinhood, Barclays, State Street, and Jump Trading. Actor Matt Damon will also attend alongside Gary White, co-founder and CEO of Water.org.
Newly announced speakers include Luca Cosentino, Head of Digital Assets at Cross River, R.P. Eddy, CEO of Ergo, Lucas Zandona Gomes from RedotPay, and Kazım Rıfat Özyılmaz, co-founder of Arf.
New Partnerships Bolster Ripple’s Ecosystem
Historically, the Swell conference has served as a stage for Ripple’s product launches and partnership announcements. Ahead of this year’s event, several new agreements within the XRP ecosystem have come to light. Arf has partnered with Ripple to offer RLUSD-backed settlement liquidity on the XRP Ledger to licensed cross-border payment firms.
Additionally, Ripple unveiled an agreement with Cross River Bank to integrate RLUSD into the bank’s core banking platform via the XRP Ledger.
Glossary: RLUSD is a stablecoin initiative by Ripple pegged one-to-one with the US dollar. x402 refers to a technical payment method for programmable payment flows and software-based transactions.
Meritz Securities aims to introduce institutional-level custody and tokenization services to Korean capital markets through its partnership with Ripple.
Advancements in Korean Markets and Wallet Technology
Meritz Securities has also announced a partnership with Ripple to bring institutional-grade custody and tokenization solutions to Korean capital markets, marking Ripple’s first securities partner in the region. This collaboration joins a list of others in 2023, including partnerships with Kyobo Life Insurance, Kbank, and Jeonbuk Bank.
Ripple is further collaborating with Stripe-affiliated Privy to introduce embedded wallets on the XRP Ledger. This integration is designed to support automated trading processes through programmable wallets that enable AI agents to hold and transact funds.
