David Schwartz Says Ripple Once Kept XRP Payments in the Background

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz recalled that Ripple once played down the blockchain component of XRP-based payments for hesitant institutional clients, describing what he sees as a change in firms’ interest in blockchain strategies.

At Evernorth Holdings Inc.’s Nasdaq closing-bell event on Oct. 14, Schwartz discussed how Ripple presented the payment service to customers. He described an earlier approach that kept the blockchain technology in the background and contrasted it with what he characterized as institutions’ current interest in developing blockchain strategies. His comments describe his view of how those conversations changed.

Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity service uses XRP to bridge currencies in cross-border payments. A sending institution can route a payment through the service without holding or transacting in XRP itself. Using that payment route therefore does not necessarily mean the sender owns the asset.

That distinction matters when considering Ripple’s customer figures. In November 2019, RippleNet had more than 300 customers, while more than two dozen had signed on to On-Demand Liquidity. The figures count different groups: RippleNet’s broader customer base is not a count of institutions using the XRP-based service. Neither figure establishes that every RippleNet customer used XRP or held it.

Evernorth offers an example of institutional XRP holding. The company held approximately 473 million XRP as of Oct. 9. It plans to begin deploying its treasury through institutional strategies in the fourth quarter of 2026, making that deployment a future step rather than a description of the holdings already reported.

Evernorth’s treasury and Ripple’s payment service illustrate two distinct forms of institutional exposure to XRP: holding the asset and using it as a bridge in a payment. Schwartz also discussed connecting the XRP Ledger to everyday financial activity at the same event. His recollection about Ripple’s earlier customer approach adds a separate perspective on how the company presented XRP-based payments.