10th Anniversary of Ripple Swell, Garlinghouse notes partnership expansions, OCC approval

The tenth anniversary of the firm's main Swell conference has been celebrated by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who shared several significant disclosures from the occasion and noted an unexpected presence from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Brad Garlinghouse recently posted on X regarding the upcoming Swell 2026 conference, which is scheduled to take place in New York City. The Ripple chief used X to express his excitement about the opening day of Swell 2026, stating, "We're kicking off 10 years of RippleSwell with a bang!" The present Swell gathering represents the tenth iteration of the yearly conference, which initially commenced in Toronto in October 2017. Over the years, this event has evolved into a significant forum for blockchain developers, policymakers, members of the XRP community, and financial institutions.

A major highlight of the first day of Swell was a video appearance by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; he participated in a discussion alongside Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. Garlinghouse expressed that it was an honor to commence the event with Scott Bessent. The Ripple CEO praised the Treasury Secretary for his contributions to shaping the regulatory environment for digital assets within the United States, commenting, "His leadership and the current administration have been key to making sure that responsible crypto has a home in the US." Furthermore, the Ripple CEO extended his thanks to Scott Bessent for his time and participation in the event.

In addition to the video segment featuring Scott Bessent, Garlinghouse also pointed out several major announcements made by the company during the anniversary festivities. One noteworthy announcement involves Ripple broadening its collaboration with Robinhood, which entails integrating the firm's financial infrastructure into both internal systems and customer-facing products. Brad Garlinghouse also highlighted the enlargement of the company's alliance with the major banking entity BNY. This new alliance will encompass institutional digital asset custody and tokenized trade finance solutions utilizing RLUSD, XRP, and the XRP Ledger.

Another significant disclosure was the initiation of 24/7 Returns by Ripple Treasury. The final piece of news mentioned by Brad Garlinghouse concerned Ripple's most recent regulatory success: the firm secured final authorization from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Ripple National Trust Bank. Once this federally regulated entity becomes operational, it will be tasked with managing RLUSD reserves and providing institutional digital asset custody. Garlinghouse concluded by saying, "And it's only day 0 (yes, Swell main event is tomorrow!). More to come this week." The core Swell event is slated for October 28–29, expecting attendance from numerous influential figures in both traditional finance and the crypto sector.