Ripple's Swell 2026 conference, set for Oct. 27-29 in New York, expects 1,500 participants from traditional finance, cryptocurrency, academia and the XRP ecosystem. The event, announced Sept. 29, marks a decade since Ripple held its first independent gathering after being excluded from the Sibos banking conference.
The 2026 program integrates core Swell with Apex, a summit for XRP Ledger developers, institutions and investors, and adds UBRI Connect, Ripple's University Blockchain Research Initiative academic conference. The three-day gathering at The Shed in Manhattan features over 100 speakers across 80 sessions on three stages.
Institutional sessions will examine the first year of spot XRP exchange-traded funds and stablecoin issuance models—critical inflection points for on-chain adoption. Discussions will cover the integration of automated payment systems within financial infrastructure and developer sessions on privacy and scaling solutions for the XRP Ledger.
Key debates include whether stablecoin issuance should follow individual issuer frameworks or collaborative consortiums. Other sessions explore AI systems designed for payments and the operational requirements for bringing digital assets into bank-grade production environments.
The speaker roster includes BNY Global Head of Markets Laide Majiyagbe, Robinhood Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto and International Johann Kerbrat, Tradeweb CEO Billy Hult, TD Securities Head of Digital Assets Product and Strategy Elizabeth St-Onge, and Intercontinental Exchange Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Michael Blaugrund.
Majiyagbe will speak with Hult on trading, liquidity and settlement in digital assets. Kerbrat will appear with Ripple President Monica Long to discuss expanding access to digital assets through trading platforms.
