In a dramatic shift in strategy, Ripple has officially ceased efforts to onboard new banks, according to recent statements from Ripple CTO David Schwartz. After years of building partnerships with financial institutions for cross-border settlements, the company is now pivoting to become its own financial entity—positioning XRP as a direct replacement for physical cash.
🚨 From Partnering with Banks to Replacing Them Ripple was once known for aggressively pursuing bank integrations through its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product, which uses XRP to eliminate the need for pre-funded nostro accounts in international transfers. While it successfully signed on over 300 financial institutions worldwide, the process was often slow and bureaucratic.
“We’ve closed a lot of deals, but we’re done adding new banks. They simply move too slow,” said David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO, in a recent statement.
Rather than wait for legacy finance to adapt, Ripple is now aiming to build a full-stack financial platform—one that doesn’t rely on traditional banks but instead uses the XRP Ledger and XRP itself as the native cash for instant, frictionless payments.
💵 The Global Cash Market: A $30 Trillion Opportunity Despite the rise of digital finance, the world still runs on cash—a massive market that Ripple is now directly targeting:
$8–10 trillion USD in physical currency is currently in global circulation, including banknotes and coins (IMF, BIS).
Over $25–30 trillion USD is withdrawn annually from ATMs worldwide, according to World Bank and ATM Industry Association data.
Roughly 30–35% of global consumer transactions are still conducted in cash—especially in developing economies.
Ripple's move to position XRP as a digital alternative to cash—faster, borderless, and programmable—could allow it to tap into this market without relying on slow-moving institutions.
🔗 XRP as Digital Cash XRP has long been positioned as a bridge asset for cross-border payments, but its features also make it an ideal form of digital cash:
Settlement speed: ~3–5 seconds
Transaction cost: less than $0.0005
Energy efficiency: ~57,000x more efficient than Bitcoin
Scalability: Up to 1,500 TPS natively; higher with sidechains
As of mid-2025, the XRP Ledger processes over 5 million transactions per day, with burn rates increasing due to network demand, contributing to XRP’s deflationary pressure.
🏦 Ripple Becoming the Bank Ripple’s ambitions go far beyond payment messaging. By becoming a regulated financial institution or digital bank itself, Ripple would:
Offer wallets and custodial services directly to consumers and businesses
Enable tokenized deposits, stablecoin transfers, and CBDC settlement
Provide real-time liquidity and settlement rails across regions
Leverage XRP as the native unit of value for everyday payments, not just institutional transfers
This strategy aligns with Ripple’s broader effort to embed XRP into global infrastructure—a move strengthened by potential integration with the ISO 20022 messaging system and its ongoing engagement with regulatory agencies.
📈 Outlook Ripple’s decision to stop courting banks may initially seem counterintuitive—but it reflects a decentralized finance-first vision of the future. If successful, Ripple could bypass outdated financial rails and insert XRP into the heart of global commerce, from micropayments to enterprise-level liquidity flows.
With trillions in fiat still circulating through outdated systems, the opportunity is massive—and Ripple is moving fast.