The US and UK are moving in lockstep toward a new era of regulated digital money with a joint taskforce, while Ripple deepens its institutional footprint across more than 30 banks.
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US, UK launch joint taskforce on crypto rules; Ripple counts 30 bank ties
The US and UK are moving in lockstep toward a new era of regulated digital money with a joint taskforce, while Ripple deepens its institutional footprint across more than 30 banks.
The US and UK formed a joint taskforce to align digital asset regulations, a move that reduces cross-border uncertainty for crypto firms and reinforces Ripple's institutional expansion across more than 30 banks.
"This taskforce creates a single rulebook for digital money across two of the world's largest financial markets," a senior Treasury official involved in the discussions said. The joint effort covers stablecoin oversight, custody standards and anti-money laundering requirements for crypto firms operating in both jurisdictions.
The regulatory alignment comes as SWIFT moved its blockchain-based shared ledger into live operational use, naming 17 pioneer banks for 24/7 tokenized cross-border payments. SWIFT's wider payments framework lists more than 30 institutions with existing Ripple relationships, though many currently use RippleNet purely for messaging without touching the XRP token.
The convergence of US-UK regulatory clarity and SWIFT's blockchain infrastructure could accelerate the shift from pre-funded nostro accounts to programmable settlement — the model Ripple has been building toward for years. The taskforce is expected to publish its first set of joint recommendations by year-end.
SWIFT's Blockchain Milestone
SWIFT's pilot, nine months in the making, represents a decisive escalation from prototype to production. The 17 pioneer banks are live on a blockchain-based shared ledger that coordinates tokenized deposits rather than public cryptocurrencies, giving participating institutions 24/7 settlement capability. SWIFT's native ledger settles in tokenized bank deposits, not XRP — the token is not embedded in the standard payment flow.
However, the indirect connection runs through Ripple's On-Demand Liquidity product, which uses XRP as a bridge asset for instant settlement. The upgrade path from messaging to liquidity provisioning is where actual XRP demand materializes, and that transition remains at each bank's discretion.
Ripple Deepens Bank Ties
Ripple's institutional credibility has been reinforced in parallel. The company joined SWIFT earlier in 2026, enabling direct global bank access and unified management of fiat and crypto flows. It has also partnered with Kyobo Life Insurance for real-time tokenized government bond settlement.
The more than 30 banks named in SWIFT's wider payments framework with existing Ripple relationships represent a set beyond the 17 live pilot participants. Being listed in SWIFT's framework does not mean those institutions have activated ODL or routed any liquidity through XRP, but the infrastructure now exists for them to do so.
SWIFT has also outlined its next phase, describing its ambition to become a platform for programmable money and agentic commerce — a world where payments execute automatically when conditions are met without manual authorization per transaction.
For XRP, the path to institutional demand runs through banks upgrading from RippleNet messaging to ODL liquidity provisioning. Each conversion represents a potential source of token demand, though the pace depends on individual bank decisions and the evolving regulatory framework the new US-UK taskforce will define.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
