Ripple President Says Stablecoins Will Power Global Settlement

TheNewsCryptoPublished on 2026-01-21Last updated on 2026-01-21

Abstract

Ripple President Monica Long asserts that stablecoins are set to become the foundation of global settlement systems, rather than an alternative payment rail. She emphasizes that fiat-pegged tokens will serve as the core infrastructure for cross-border transactions, with major institutions like Visa and Stripe integrating them into payment flows. Long predicts that within five years, stablecoins will be fully integrated into global payment systems as the default settlement layer. She also highlights the crypto industry's shift from a speculative phase to a "production era," marked by increased institutional adoption and practical utility. By 2026, she expects significant crypto integration among Fortune 500 companies, including tokenized assets, on-chain treasury bills, and programmable financial instruments directly embedded into corporate workflows. This transition positions crypto as the operating layer of modern finance.

The President of Ripple, Monica Long, has mentioned in a new thread on X that stablecoins will be the base of global settlement, not an alternative rail, mounting fiat-pegged tokens as the pillar of cross-border money movement instead of just a side experiment.

She highlighted Visa, Stripe and other prominent institutions so far, hardwiring them into payment flows and recognising business-to-business transactions as the growth engine, having corporates leverage digital dollars to unlock real-time liquidity and capital efficiency.

The thesis of Long lines up with a wider post on the website of Ripple, where she mentions that within about five years, stablecoins will be completely amalgamated into global payment systems and function as the default settlement layer for holders and fintechs.

Meanwhile, other analysts mention that regulated stablecoins are increasingly being made to directly integrate into bank and card-network rails, obscuring the line between crypto infrastructure and traditional clearing systems.

The Further Forecasts

Long withstands that the industry is withdrawing completely from the speculative phase and setting its foot into what she calls a production era of crypto. She also mentions that after one of the most exciting years witnessed by crypto, the industry is going into its production era.

She has also forecasted that in this year, we will witness the institutionalisation of crypto-trusted infrastructure, and actual utility will propel banks, corporates and providers from pilots to scale.

Crypto is no longer unpredictable; it is the operating layer of modern finance, she further states in a follow-up post, speculating that about 50% of Fortune 500 companies will have some form of virtual asset exposure or a formal “DAT strategy” by this year.

She further proposes that they will comprise tokenised assets, on-chain treasury bills, stablecoins and programmable financial instruments implanted directly into corporate treasury and capital-markets workflows.

The written outlook of Long at Ripple associates these themes altogether, mentioning 2026 as a defining year in which stablecoins will power global settlement.

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