Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead has drawn attention to Ripple’s ambitious goal of competing with SWIFT during a live CNBC Squawk Box interview. While primarily discussing Pantera’s new Solana-focused treasury company, Morehead took time to highlight how different blockchain projects target distinct industry sectors.
Morehead characterized the company as addressing critical pain points in traditional cross-border payments and financial messaging systems currently dominated by SWIFT. He positioned Solana as a high-throughput blockchain platform while describing Ripple as a serious contender for modernizing international payment infrastructure.
The coin’s leadership has made increasingly direct statements about replacing SWIFT’s messaging network. Senior VP Eric van Miltenburg declared at the 2025 World Economic Forum that Ripple aims to become a modern alternative to SWIFT for cross-border transactions, emphasizing fast and compliant infrastructure.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse escalated these claims at the XRPL Apex conference in June, projecting that XRP Ledger could process 14% of SWIFT’s total transaction volume within five years. This timeline suggests Ripple plans rapid scaling of its payment network to compete with the established banking messaging system.
XRP community figure Crypto Eri has argued that the firm’s strategy focuses on direct competition rather than collaboration with existing SWIFT infrastructure. This perspective counters speculation about potential integration between Ripple and SWIFT systems, suggesting a more confrontational market approach.
The XRP community views Ripple’s Hidden Road acquisition as strategic positioning to bypass legacy payment systems entirely. This interpretation aligns with the competitive rather than collaborative stance toward traditional banking infrastructure.
Industry reactions to Ripple’s SWIFT challenge vary considerably. Teucrium CEO Sal Gilbertie launched a 2x Long Daily XRP ETF based partly on belief that Ripple could “hopefully” replace SWIFT. Speaking on the Thinking Crypto podcast, Gilbertie praised Ripple’s focus on modernizing outdated banking systems.
However, criticism has been harsh from other quarters. Forbes published a scathing assessment in March, calling Ripple “good-for-nothing” and questioning the company’s decade-long promise to replace SWIFT while still running pilot programs in limited markets.
Some cryptocurrency community members have questioned XRP’s relevance compared to projects like Chainlink that have secured government partnerships. Critics argue that the company continues operating on promises rather than concrete achievements after years of development.
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