SWIFT's Ex-Innovation Chief Shuts the Door on XRP Rumors With a Two-Word Reply 🚪

Former SWIFT Chief Innovation Officer Tom Zschach has rejected online claims that the global financial messaging network plans to integrate or support $XRP. On July 10, 2026, Zschach responded on X to posts asserting that SWIFT would work with established public tokens rather than build its own digital asset, describing the alleged $XRP integration as "not happening."

The rumor claimed that SWIFT did not intend to compete with $XRP and would instead support or work with the Ripple-linked token. The posts did not cite a statement from SWIFT or provide details of an announced integration. Zschach, who previously led SWIFT's digital asset strategy, directly rejected the claim and also asked an AI assistant whether SWIFT currently uses $XRP, further questioning the basis of the online reports. As previously reported, $XRP may remain available through some connected payment services, but SWIFT has not made the token a required part of its network.

Zschach has challenged $XRP-related claims before, questioning whether banks would use a volatile public token for settlement and criticizing suggestions that Ripple could replace established financial infrastructure. He has previously stated that "SWIFT wasn't the money place" and drew "a clear distinction between messaging and settlement."

SWIFT is developing a blockchain-based shared ledger for cross-border payments. The company said in March that it had completed the design stage and started building a minimum viable product. The project aims to connect tokenized commercial bank deposits and support 24-hour international payments, with first live transactions planned for later in 2026. The announcement did not name $XRP as a settlement token, and the project centres on regulated bank liabilities rather than a public cryptocurrency.

The latest speculation followed news that SWIFT had launched a blockchain payment pilot involving 17 financial institutions, including Standard Chartered and UBS. Some participating banks have separate business relationships with Ripple or use services connected to the $XRP Ledger, but those links do not establish that the SWIFT test would use $XRP. XRPL adoption has continued to expand through firms such as JPMorgan, Mastercard, Clearstream and SBI, none of which depend on any SWIFT endorsement of the token.