Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, stirred controversy once again, arguing that XRP exposes institutions to lower transaction risk than traditional SWIFT transfers, despite its higher volatility. The discussion erupted after crypto researcher SMQKE shared a document on X in which Garlinghouse develops this argument with concrete data.
According to Garlinghouse, an average SWIFT transfer takes approximately three days to settle — around 270,000 seconds of exposure to currency fluctuations, liquidity costs, counterparty risk, and settlement uncertainty, forcing institutions to rely on costly hedging strategies.
BRAD GARLINGHOUSE: XRP CARRIES LESS RISK THAN A TRADITIONAL SWIFT TRANSACTION
“When you do a SWIFT transaction, the average transaction, let's just say is three days. That's 270,000 seconds, trust me I did the math on that. If you multiply 270,000 seconds in a low volatility… https://t.co/z3uDvpSpR7 pic.twitter.com/kuUzWPk32B
— SMQKE (@SMQKEDQG) July 23, 2026
By contrast, transactions on the XRP Ledger settle in three to five seconds. “If you compare 270,000 seconds in a low-volatility asset with three or four seconds in a highly volatile asset like XRP, it turns out that you take on less volatility risk with an XRP transaction than with fiat,” Garlinghouse stated. Since XRP is held for only a few moments before being converted to the destination currency, institutions can largely forgo currency hedging.
Recently, SWIFT explained that its blockchain strategy aims to modernize its network, not replace it. The organization, which connects more than 11,500 financial institutions, is integrating blockchain technology into its infrastructure to combine tokenized settlement with the scale and interoperability of the current banking system.
Source: https://x.com/SMQKEDQG/status/2080229595693912573
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