Key points
- Ripple expects the New York conference to attract over 1,500 attendees.
- Executives from CME, BNY, and Robinhood will join the institutional panel.
- XRP Ledger development and RLUSD adoption will be the focus.
As traditional financial institutions expand their involvement in blockchain infrastructure, Ripple is preparing to host its largest Swell conference to date. The company expects over 100 speakers and more than 1,500 attendees at the event, taking place in New York from October 27 to 29.
This three-day event will be held at The Shed in Manhattan, with executives from CME Group, BNY, Robinhood, Intercontinental Exchange, and several other major financial companies in attendance.
According to Ripple’s official agenda, Swell 2026 will feature over 80 sessions across three stages, covering topics such as tokenized assets, institutional payments, stablecoins, cryptocurrency markets, and the future of the XRP Ledger.
This is the first time Ripple has combined Swell with XRPL Apex and UBRI Connect to bring together financial executives, blockchain developers, and academic researchers.
Ripple brings Wall Street executives to Swell 2026
The speaker lineup includes Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple; Terrence Duffy, Chairman and CEO of CME Group; Tom Farley, CEO of Bullish; and representatives from BNY, Robinhood, ICE, Barclays, and State Street.
Actor Matt Damon and Water.org co-founder Gary White will also attend to discuss financing solutions for global water access.
The institutional-focused arrangement follows Ripple’s earlier announcement regarding Swell, which positioned the event as a gathering at the intersection of traditional banking infrastructure and digital assets.
One particularly relevant discussion involved Ripple’s recent announcement of its partnership with DriveWealth.
Both parties plan to explore using RLUSD to support international brokerage financing and settlement services, potentially covering a network serving over 100 financial partners.
Their session on October 28 will provide another opportunity to discuss the DriveWealth integration, though no new product releases have been confirmed at this time.
XRP Ledger lending and RLUSD expansion take center stage
In addition to institutional partnerships, Swell will focus on the infrastructure needed to bring more financial assets onto public blockchains.
Ripple’s institutional business has expanded through custody, brokerage services, and stablecoin settlement, including Standard Chartered’s integration of RLUSD.
The company has also partnered with Arf to bring RLUSD-backed financing to the XRP Ledger, connecting the network to an existing payment business with an annual transaction volume of approximately $10 billion.
This settlement financing program may ultimately utilize XRPL’s proposed native lending architecture.
However, the lending feature still requires approval from validators.
Coinpaper's latest revision report also shows that another XRPL cleanup upgrade has been postponed, with the conditional activation target changed to November 4.
David Schwartz and RippleX engineering executive Ayo Akinyele plan to discuss the network’s development, including the technical challenges to broader institutional adoption.
Will Ripple Swell 2026 affect the outlook for XRP?
Ripple has traditionally used Swell to showcase product advancements and institutional partnerships, making this event significant for investors following its ecosystem.
This year’s agenda also includes topics such as the first spot XRP ETFs, digital asset custody, tokenization, and institutional liquidity.
However, Ripple's business expansion should not be automatically interpreted as increased demand for XRP.
Many institutional applications use RLUSD or tokenized securities without requiring large purchases of the network’s native cryptocurrency.
This distinction is particularly important while the lending and privacy proposals on the XRPL await sufficient validator support.