Key Takeaways
- Ripple expects 1,500 decision-makers at its New York conference.
- Swell combines with Apex and UBRI Connect for the first time.
- XRP ETFs, stablecoins, and automated payments feature in institutional talks.
From Sibos Exclusion to a New York Finance Gathering
An event that began outside an established banking conference now expects decision-makers from across traditional and digital finance. The blockchain infrastructure provider outlined its Swell 2026 lineup Sept. 29, tracing its origins to a gathering a decade ago. The company anticipates 1,500 participants across traditional finance, crypto, academia, and the XRP ecosystem in New York next month.
The historical account places the conference’s beginnings within a debate over blockchain’s potential role in global finance. Ripple said: “Ten years ago, shut out of Sibos, Ripple gathered a group of financial leaders to talk about what blockchain could mean for global finance.” Sibos has brought the financial community together since 1978, providing the historical backdrop to that account.
This year’s format combines the Swell conference with Apex, the summit for XRP Ledger developers, institutions, and investors. The XRP Ledger is the public blockchain whose native cryptocurrency is XRP. UBRI Connect, the academic conference of Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative, joins them for the first time. The three-day New York gathering runs Oct. 27-29 at The Shed in Manhattan, with more than 100 speakers, over 80 sessions, and three stages.
XRP ETFs and Bank Adoption Move Into Focus
The institutional program examines how digital assets are transforming the businesses of banks, asset managers, and fintech companies. Its XRP ETF and settlement discussions include the first year of spot XRP exchange-traded funds, which provide exposure to the cryptocurrency through exchange-listed shares. Other sessions address artificial intelligence (AI) systems that move money and requirements for bringing digital assets into bank-grade production.
The speaker roster connects executives responsible for market infrastructure with leaders expanding access to digital assets through trading platforms. Swell participants from BNY and Robinhood include the bank’s Global Head of Markets Laide Majiyagbe and the trading platform’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto and International Johann Kerbrat. Majiyagbe speaks with electronic marketplace operator Tradeweb’s CEO Billy Hult on trading, liquidity, and settlement; Kerbrat appears with Ripple President Monica Long.
Stablecoin issuance models will feature in a debate involving investment bank TD Securities Head of Digital Assets Product and Strategy Elizabeth St-Onge and payments industry leaders. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to assets such as the U.S. dollar. Participants examine individual issuers versus collaborative consortiums, while exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Michael Blaugrund addresses tokenized equities, funds, and collateral.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse moderates a markets conversation with Tom Farley, chairman and CEO of crypto exchange Bullish (NYSE: BLSH), formerly president of the New York Stock Exchange. Water.org co-founders Matt Damon and Gary White separately examine Ripple Payments and RLUSD, its dollar stablecoin, in transfers supporting water and sanitation access.
Privacy, Scaling, and AI Shape Developer and Research Sessions
The ecosystem track turns to the technology underpinning the network and the applications being developed around it. Chief Technology Officer Emeritus David Schwartz and Ayo Akinyele, senior director of engineering at RippleX, the company’s developer-focused team, discuss the ledger’s future. Akinyele focuses on privacy, scaling, and institutional infrastructure. Schwartz has highlighted XRP applications in payments, tokenization, and decentralized finance, including blockchain-based financial services and digital representations of assets.
Enterprise participation in the network and support for developers across regions form another part of the ecosystem program. XRP Ledger Foundation Executive Director Brett Mollin addresses businesses running validators, which participate in confirming transactions. David Bchiri, president of community organization XRPL Commons, takes part in a panel on support for builders, including collaboration with the foundation, the developer team, and regional initiative XRP Asia.
Academic sessions explore how AI intersects with cryptography, security, and financial systems through the innovation track. Cornell Tech professor Ari Juels examines how AI is reshaping crypto and how crypto-aligned technologies can benefit the AI ecosystem, while University of Pennsylvania Wharton School professor Kevin Werbach addresses autonomous software connecting decentralized finance with traditional markets. A hackathon, where developers build projects together, is scheduled for the weekend before the main event.
Ripple also states that the ledger has operated for more than 13 years and processed well over $1 trillion in volume. Separately, its solutions enabled trillions of dollars in transactions last year. The announcement puts WaterCredit, White’s financing model, at $8.2 billion mobilized and 92 million people reached, targeting 200 million by 2030.
