Why Banks Still Don’t Trust Ripple and XRP: A Tale of Broken Trust and Broken Dreams

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In the quiet, dusty corners of the financial world, where trust is as fragile as a veiled lady’s smile, Ripple and XRP found themselves thrust into an uninvited spotlight. SWIFT’s chief innovation officer, Tom Zschach – a man with the solemnity of a funeral director – decided to sound off on LinkedIn, as if whispering secrets in a dimly lit room. His words, sharp as a gout attack, seemed to snub the dainty ambitions of the crypto token-XRP, that charming but often misunderstood flirt.

It all began during a casual praise, perhaps the kind you reserve for old acquaintances: “Ripple’s regulatory endurance.” Or so the narrator thought. But then, Zschach, leaning back as if about to reveal the laws of the universe, retorted with a level of disapproval that suggested he’d just stepped in something sticky: “Surviving lawsuits isn’t resilience. Neutral, shared governance is.” The kind of doctrine that makes regulators and bankers alike adjust their monocles. He scoffed at the idea that a single firm’s good rapport with watchdogs could ever be true compliance. “It’s about an entire industry agreeing on shared standards,” he wrote, as if quoting from an ancient scroll-perhaps to remind us that no one person’s opinion should control the entire market’s fate.

Ripple vs. SWIFT: A Duel of Ideas

Zschach, with all the verbosity of a philosopher and none of the poetry, expanded his thesis: “Every major shift in finance begins the same way. Technology lays the foundation but trust decides when the building opens.” One might wonder if he believed in fairy tales, or simply in the power of bureaucracy and skepticism-perhaps both.

He reminisced about past “big things” in finance that stalled-not because of their capabilities but due to the nervous need for security and compliance. The future he envisioned-public blockchains in 2025-was a carnival of tokenized treasuries, collateral on-chain, and cross-border payments that settle faster than gossip at a village fair. But don’t get ahead of yourselves! He warned, like an old teacher scolding a mischievous student, that raw tech isn’t the finish line.

He called public networks “the base environment for execution”-a sort of digital jungle gym, powerful but insufferably unsafe without that elusive “trust layer”: legal enforceability, compliance, and privacy. Without these, he warned, a public chain is “a fast engine with no cockpit,” a rollercoaster ride you might regret after a bad lunch. 🍔

Most telling was his philosophical boundary: the idea that banks crave “shared standards that no single balance sheet controls,” not dependence on some gossipy, meddling competitor’s rails. Because, of course, who wants to marry the person who might leave them for a younger blockchain?

He went further, cautioning that if a bank joins a chain operated by another bank, it’s like entering a marriage with a controlling spouse-accepting governance, incentives, and rules that they didn’t choose. “In today’s environment,” he pondered with a shrug, “is that really a comfort?” The essential question remained: will the infrastructure be neutral enough to earn trust, or will it remain a game of power plays and secret handshakes?

He used the metaphor of “substrate”-a foundation-like the bedrock beneath a dozing bear, on which everything else depends. His message was clear: “Don’t fight the public chains; harness them, but do your homework first.” Privacy and transparency, he said, must dance together-like a couple who refuse to speak in riddles but still cherish their secrets.

The real opportunity, he suggested, was for finance to “absorb the best of public chains on its own terms”-like trying to eat a rich pie without getting crumbs everywhere. The question, academic and grand, was: “When will the banks truly trust these chains, and how quickly will that happen?” Did he mean it? Or was it merely a plea for patience in this ongoing tit-for-tat between innovation and skepticism?

As for Ripple and XRP, the message was clear enough without mentioning names. The real test is not whether they survive lawsuits or secure regulatory nods. No, the true measure is whether the rails they ride-those shiny, digital tracks-are truly shared and neutral, rather than controlled by some shadowy escrow – Ripple’s or anyone else’s. Power, rules, and privacy-these are the real currencies of trust, not lawsuits or market caps.

Meanwhile, XRP exchange rate fluttered at $2.77. As if to remind us that in this circus of finance, nothing is certain-except perhaps the next absurd twist.

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2025-09-03 03:20