Swell, Ripple's annual conference, opens Oct. 27 at The Shed in Manhattan and runs through Oct. 29, with more than 80 sessions spanning digital finance and blockchain development. Ripple, the blockchain payments company hosting the event, has now released the full agenda, which lists more than 100 speakers.

For the first time, Swell will be held in combination with two companion events: Apex, a summit for developers, institutions, and investors building on the XRP Ledger, and UBRI Connect, an academic conference for participants in Ripple's University Blockchain Research Initiative. The single venue puts institutional finance, XRP Ledger development, and academic research on one program, a scope none of the three events covers alone.

Programming is organized into three tracks — Institutional, Ecosystem, and Innovation — as outlined in Ripple's conference lineup announcement. "Swell has historically been where Ripple makes its most significant product and partnership announcements," the company stated.

Bank Executives and XRP Developers Take the Stage

The published agenda features Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy, and Bullish CEO Tom Farley, with discussions spanning digital asset markets and financial infrastructure. Matt Damon and Gary White, co-founders of Water.org, are also scheduled to speak. The lineup reaches beyond crypto-native circles, drawing in leadership from established market infrastructure and global philanthropy.

Tokenization sessions will examine how assets can be represented on a blockchain. David Schwartz, Ripple's chief technology officer emeritus, and Ayo Akinyele, senior director of engineering at RippleX — Ripple's team supporting development on the network — will discuss the XRP Ledger's future. Other technical sessions cover security, privacy, and formal verification, a mathematical method for checking software behavior.

Stablecoins, digital assets designed to track a reference value, feature in discussions on payments and institutional finance. Sessions will compare individual issuers with consortium models and explore applications involving Ripple USD (RLUSD).

RLUSD Custody Connects Banks With Blockchain Markets

Ahead of those discussions, eligible institutions can safeguard RLUSD issued on the XRP Ledger through Standard Chartered's RLUSD custody service, launched Oct. 12. The service operates through the bank's branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre, a financial hub in the United Arab Emirates.

Licensing requirements influence how institutions assess stablecoins for payments, settlement, and corporate fund management. In September, Ripple outlined differences in stablecoin oversight, explaining how reserve, capital, and supervisory obligations affect token backing and holder protections.

Under a planned collateral arrangement with LMAX Group, an institutional trading venue operator, eligible RLUSD holdings would support trading while remaining in Standard Chartered's custody, with their value reflected at LMAX without transferring the tokens there. Standard Chartered noted that the agreed capabilities depend on documentation, testing, applicable laws and regulations, internal approvals, and jurisdictional readiness. Until those conditions are met, the collateral capability remains planned rather than operational.

With sessions running through Oct. 29 and Ripple describing Swell as its historical stage for major product and partnership news, the week offers a defined window to see whether the agenda's tokenization and stablecoin themes turn into formal announcements.

Source: CryptoNewsNet