Exclusive: SWIFT Denies Integration Rumours with RippleNet
Fans of XRP are excited by speculation that a competitor could soon be a partner.
XRP, the cryptocurrency associated with payment network Ripple, temporarily overtook Ethereum in market capitalisation earlier on Tuesday.
Be sure to waive at @VitalikButerin as we sail past later this week for the final time. pic.twitter.com/JssU8DJ6NV
Join the Leading Industry Event!
— SamIam (@Ripple_Me_This) November 6, 2018
This appears to have been driven at least partially by a popular rumour on the internet – that an upcoming upgrade on the SWIFT network will make Ripple products available to around 4,000 extra banks. A SWIFT spokesperson told Finance Magnates on Tuesday that these rumours are untrue.
Market Fundamentals
To get the underlying factors out of the way: Ethereum has been number two in the cryptocurrency rankings as consistently as Bitcoin has been number one. XRP overtaking it in value, however briefly, was quite a coup.
However, it is not so surprising. Over the last year, Ethereum has been declining in value due to competition from new smart contract platforms, and upgrades which seem to be permanently stuck in the ‘coming soon’ stage. Ripple, on the other hand, has been signing deals with major financial institutions left, right and centre.
The Upgrade
The SWIFT upgrade is an add-on to its GPI system. GPI stands for global payments innovation, and it was launched in January 2017 to speed up the notoriously slow cross-border payment network, which has been the world standard since the 1970s. Harry Newman, SWIFT head of banking, told the Financial Times in June: “It is no secret that correspondent banking is a 1998 model and we are busy addressing that, bringing it to a 2018 model.” This system is already used by a large proportion of banks on the network.
The upgrade is a technical one, attaching a tracking reference to all transactions. It was announced in March 2018 and will be enacted on the 18th of November.
Finance Magnates reached out to SWIFT. A spokesperson for SWIFT (specifically, an employee of public relations company Finsbury) responded: “I’m not sure where those rumours are coming from but the upcoming standards release … is entirely unrelated to RippleNet. Its primary purpose is to ensure all payments include a tracking reference (UETR, Unique End-to-end Transaction Reference) which will allow banks to track their gpi payments end-to-end in real time.”
A source close to the matter told Finance Magnates that having checked with both parties, no evidence could be found of an integration.
What Are These Rumours Then?
This Twitter user is excited because a SWIFT board member left his job at HSBC to work with Ripple:
1. Has swift partnered with Ripple? Marcus treacher who is on swifts board leaves hsbc to work with ripple. Also swift have recently stated xborder payments can settle within seconds which is worlds apart from the 30+ mins stated on the last pic, THREAD $xrp $xrpcommunity $btc pic.twitter.com/edKGO6oxGA
— Sparrow (@SparrowHodl) October 7, 2018
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Finance Magnates reported on this move when it happened, more than two years ago.
One driver of the rumours is a popular Twitter user called ‘SamIam’, whose secondary username is ‘@ripple_me_this’. Like the previous Twitter user cited, Mr. Iam posts enthusiastically about XRP/Ripple several times every day. The gloating Twitter post (the one in which the word ‘wave’ is misspelt) seen at the beginning of this article is one of his.
Both of these users argue that software provider Temenos is the link between Ripple and SWIFT, being as it is a partner of both. SamIam explains (try to ignore that he does not know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’):
Finance Magnates has reached out to Temenos and will update this article when a reply is received.
YouTube videos also abound with the integration theory:
Featured in the above image is an old Twitter post from Ripple’s Chief Technical Officer, which is pointed to as evidence by the individual that posted this video.
Additionally, a cryptocurrency news outlet called Coinnounce has published several articles on this subject. It has pointed out that a SWIFT technical upgrade on the 21st of September led to a price spike in Ripple, that the two companies have very similar aims, and that a representative from Ripple is taking part in a panel discussion at a banking conference (AFP Chicago 2018).
True or not, the speculation is not harming the price of XRP:
The common understanding is that Ripple and SWIFT are competitors. Or is this writer just spreading FUD?
Getting pretty tired of the utmost stupidity, hostility and delusion every anti #SWIFT / @Ripple collab tweet attracts.
Please free to unfollow if you insist $XRP is $589 by eoy and #SWIFT switches on #xRapid by Nov 18th.
Don’t need that toxicity on my feed.
— Crypto Joe (@Dave_Jonez_02) November 7, 2018
This guys just spreading negative FUD. I would stick to the facts and get ready for the takeover of Jurassic SWIFT. SamIam is probably the most eloquent and informed XRP blogger out there! Should maybe take a page from his book 🙂
Don’t know why you are attacking Sam for your’ you’re – he got it right once, and wrong once – big deal! If anything, this article makes me believe it was written by someone who holds Ethereum and Bitcoin! You should declare your holdings when writing opinion pieces like this!
cry later connect the dots.
Spokes person… Name them. FUD and fake. Move on
It’s true that SWIFT and Ripple have nothing in common, no partnership and no integration. They only have same third parties with which they are integrated. What do you think the banks will do when they’ll have to send cross-border payments via Temenos T24, ACI, earthport or volante ? Will they choose the Ripple api or the SWIFT api ? My opinion is – they can settle and clear on SWIFTNet – they can settle on SWIFTNet and then clear on the RippleNet (with uetr id?) – they can settle and clear on RippleNet One way ot the other Ripple… Read more »
I was reading until “try to ignore that he does not know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’”. When trying to debunk others, avoid making petty attacks on peoples grammar and or looks. Im not sure what to believe, but due to this passive aggressive attack I do believe you have a bias.
Swift source or it’s fake FUD
This article is poor journalism. You made no attempt whatsoever to challenge or clarify Finsbury’s response regarding the Swift SR2018 upgrade. Rather than asking Finsbury if the update is “related” to Ripplenet (which is vague), you should have specifically asked them if the update would allow for interoperability between Swift and Ripplenet via Temenos. Representatives from Swift have already stated that if Ripple could scale their technology to meet Swift’s needs, Swift would consider using their software. Furthermore, that former Swift employee, Marjan Delatinne (Ripple’s Global Head of Banking), explicitly stated that she doesn’t perceive Swift as being a competitor,… Read more »
Whoever wrote this article must be XRP hater or simply jealous of SamIam’s popularity. Don’t worry, XRP holders will have the last laugh.
Dear publisher, Dear reader, If you watch ALL of Sam’s videos (“SAM I AM’s”) AT FULL LENGTH and NOT just fast-forwarding through them, you will grasp the very BALANCED and CAUTIOUS approach that Sam is applying in his research and his consequent analysis of all sorts of news and TWITTER messages. Well, I looked at ALL his videos on the “To the Lifeboats” YOUTUBE channel, not just skipping, skidding or drifting through them…and I also looked at MOST of the key sources that Sam referenced for verification and integrity. And all the way and more precisely in his interpretation video… Read more »
1. The purpose of this article is not to prove or disprove anything. It lists some arguments made, and reports an official response. Indeed, the truth of the matter will become clear in a couple of weeks so there is no need to speculate. 2. In response to comments I have added the name of the PR firm that represents SWIFT, so that parties so inclined can check that the statement was genuine. However please note that citing a spokesman is standard practice. 3. The second source mentioned asked to remain anonymous. 4. It is relevant to point out that… Read more »