Ripple has confirmed the expanded program for the Swell 2026 conference in New York City: from October 27 to 29, over 1,500 attendees, more than 75 speakers, and over 50 sessions are expected across three stages. On August 13, Swell shared the latest updates on X, as financial institutions are increasingly engaging with blockchain payments, stablecoins, tokenization, and digital asset infrastructure.
The updated Swell 2026 speaker list includes Robinhood's Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto, Johann Kerbrat; BNY's Global Head of Markets, Laide Majiyagbe; and Intercontinental Exchange's Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Michael Blaugrund. Other participants include Water.org co-founder Matt Damon, Bullish Chairman and CEO Tom Farley, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Ripple President Monica Long.
Representatives from Tradeweb, PwC, State Street, Amazon Web Services, Canary Capital, $XRP Ledger Foundation, and several universities have also confirmed their participation. Key attendees include former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, Ripple's Honorary Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz, and Tradeweb CEO Billy Hult; meanwhile, Ripple indicated that the participant list may be expanded.
Swell and XRPL Apex Join Forces for the First Time
The 2026 conference will merge Ripple's institutionally-focused Swell event with XRPL Apex — a developer gathering dedicated to the $XRP Ledger. Ripple previously characterized this combined program as the largest Swell event to date, bringing together financial organization leaders, developers, researchers, investors, and community representatives within a single conference.
This expanded format moves beyond traditional banking and payments discussions, uniting decision-makers in the institutional sector with teams building blockchain applications. Previously published details indicate that this expanded event, focused on finance and the $XRP ecosystem, will feature tracks dedicated to the institutional sector, ecosystem and innovation, as well as an expo hall, technical sessions, and networking events.
The program for the milestone 10th Swell event coincides with Ripple's increased focus on regulated digital asset infrastructure and the participation of institutional players. Ripple's leadership previously linked the conference's 10th anniversary to growth in areas such as tokenization, decentralized finance, interoperability, artificial intelligence, and enterprise technology adoption.
Payments, Stablecoins, and Tokenization Lead the Agenda
Planned topics include payments, capital markets, exchange-traded funds, stablecoins, tokenization, treasury management, cybersecurity, compliance, and practical applications of $XRP. The conference will also discuss privacy, quantum computing, decentralized finance, and agentic finance — a new area related to artificial intelligence systems capable of performing financial tasks within defined control frameworks.
Developers participating in this combined event will focus on the $XRP Ledger's consensus and transaction processing infrastructure. This public blockchain utilizes validators instead of proof-of-work mining, typically settles transactions within seconds, and supports issued assets, decentralized exchange functionality, tokenization, and cross-border transfers.
Sessions on stablecoins will address assets designed to maintain a peg through reserves, collateral, redemption systems, or market incentives. These instruments are increasingly used to support payments, remittances, trading, and treasury operations, although stablecoin structures carry specific risks related to reserves and redemption.
New York Regulation Shapes the Conference Agenda
The Swell conference takes place against the backdrop of New York developing a more concrete oversight system for U.S. dollar-linked digital assets. On July 7, the New York State Department of Financial Services proposed new rules for payment stablecoin issuers, which apply to organizations issuing tokens designed for payments and settlements.
The extensive program will begin with a hackathon on October 24 and 25, followed by an Institutional Summit and welcome reception on October 27. Main stage sessions, breakout discussions, and the expo hall are scheduled for October 28 and 29 at "The Shed" in Manhattan, with a closing celebration on the final evening.
