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Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse moved to reassure XRP holders on social media that the token remains central to the company’s strategy, responding to community concerns that emerged after Ripple launched its RLUSD stablecoin and SWIFT selected a rival blockchain for a major cross-border payments pilot.
Garlinghouse’s remarks align closely with Ripple’s recently published developer outlook, which explicitly positions XRP as the backbone of on-chain institutional settlement. According to Ripple’s engineering team, XRP is designed to function as the “primary bridge asset for institutional liquidity,” a role that ties directly into the XRP community’s long-held thesis.
The outlook outlines several upgrades currently live or in development on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), all aimed at making the network more attractive to banks, payment providers, and regulated financial institutions.
These include multi-purpose token standards (MPTs), permissioned domains, and confidential transfer capabilities. For the XRP community, these developments represent tangible progress rather than abstract promises.
MPTs allow institutions to issue compliant assets with embedded rules, while permissioned domains restrict access to verified participants. This structure is meant to satisfy regulatory requirements without compromising the efficiency XRP is known for.
Confidential transfers, expected to debut in the first quarter, are another major talking point within the XRP community. They aim to offer transaction-level privacy with selective disclosure — a feature many enterprises demand but public blockchains have historically struggled to provide.
Ripple’s push toward enterprise-grade infrastructure has long divided crypto observers, but within the XRP community, it is often viewed as validation rather than limitation. The idea is simple: if XRP becomes embedded in institutional rails, demand for the asset follows naturally.
Ripple developers also emphasized that XRP is expected to function as an automated bridge currency, connecting tokenized assets, stablecoins, and fiat-backed instruments across different networks.
Even when transactions involve stablecoins, fees and account reserves on XRPL remain denominated in XRP, tying network growth directly back to the token. This design choice is critical to the XRP community narrative.
While stablecoins may move value, XRP is positioned as the connective tissue that makes those movements possible. “And some of you thought Ripple wasn’t true to their word about XRP as a bridge asset,” wrote prominent community figure Mr. Man XRP on X. “The vision has not changed.”
One persistent criticism of XRPL has been its lack of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, which limited developer adoption compared to Ethereum-based ecosystems. Ripple has acknowledged this gap and plans to address it through an EVM-compatible sidechain connected via the Axelar network.
The sidechain allows Solidity developers to tap into XRP Ledger liquidity while maintaining compatibility with familiar Ethereum tooling. For the XRP community, this move is seen as a strategic concession rather than a pivot — a way to expand utility without abandoning XRPL’s core architecture.
Ripple’s leadership argues that this hybrid approach preserves XRP’s role while opening the door to a broader developer base.
Garlinghouse’s reaffirmation also comes at a sensitive moment for the XRP community. Recent news that SWIFT selected ConsenSys-backed Linea for its onchain banking pilot sparked disappointment among XRP supporters who had long believed Ripple was a natural fit for global financial messaging.
SWIFT processes more than $150 trillion in transfers annually, making it a symbolic prize for any blockchain project. The decision to work with Linea and stablecoins issued on that network was widely interpreted as a missed opportunity for Ripple.
“This cannot be true, not possible,” veteran XRP investor Gary Cardone joked online. “I have been told for years that XRP has SWIFT all tied up.” Still, Ripple insiders and many within the XRP community argue that SWIFT’s pilot does not invalidate XRP’s long-term role.
ISO 20022 adoption, structured data standards, and interoperability layers leave room for multiple settlement and liquidity solutions to coexist.
At the time of publication, XRP is trading around $1.42, down roughly 0.9% over the past 24 hours. The token briefly dipped to $1.38 over the weekend before rebounding during Asian trading hours. While price action remains muted, sentiment within the XRP community appears more stable following Garlinghouse’s comments.
For many supporters, the reassurance was less about immediate price movement and more about strategic clarity. The XRP community has consistently argued that patience, not hype, is Ripple’s defining advantage.
“The best founders, the best teams, the best companies usually do it for a decade plus,” Garlinghouse said in earlier remarks about long-term execution. That philosophy continues to resonate with an XRP community that has endured regulatory scrutiny, market skepticism, and shifting industry trends.
As Ripple rolls out its institutional-focused upgrades and XRP Ledger capabilities mature, the XRP community is once again positioning itself for the long game — convinced that XRP’s role as a bridge asset is far from finished.
