SWIFT is not using XRP on Corda Settler, says R3 founder

By Tim Copeland

When global payments organizer SWIFT partnered with blockchain consortium R3, many predicted Ripple, a company hoping to build a rival to SWIFT, would have taken a knock. Instead, the price of XRP—which Ripple’s products are centered around—jumped 10 percent. But why? Well, it turns out R3 and Ripple are closer than many thought.

In December 2018, R3 announced it was adding XRP as the first digital currency on its Corda settler platform as part of its deal with SWIFT. This led to speculation that SWIFT was going to be using XRP to carry out payment settlements. But is any of it true?

Not according to R3 founder and managing partner David Rutter. When asked if SWIFT will be using XRP due to its Corda Settler integration, Rutter told Decrypt, “You’d have to ask SWIFT about that but that is not at all my understanding and I think that is a misinterpretation of what in fact happened.”

After speaking at Global Fintech and Blockchain Conference 2019 at Imperial College London, Rutter added that the Corda Settler is agnostic to which payment method is used. “Whether it’s JP Morgan coin, or Wells Fargo coin, or BAML coin, or HSBC coin, it doesn’t matter to us. We have no horse in that race,” he said, adding, “We don’t have any financial incentives one way or another. We’re just trying to get as many people onto our platform as possible.”

This is bad news for XRP fans which had hoped SWIFT would start settling payments using XRP. Ripple CTO David Schwartz had previously posted on Reddit, “If SWIFT wants to fix payments for us, that’s great. It’s one less thing we have to do.” But it looks like that won’t be happening any time soon.

Please note: This article has been edited to remove the statement that 50 banks will not be using the Corda Settler via Instimatch Global. Hugh Macmillen, founder and chief innovation officer at Instimatch, told Decrypt that 60 banks and five corporates are already onboarded onto the dapp. He also added that none of the banks is using XRP or will be doing so for at least three months.

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