Debate Over? Ripple Exec Lists Four Institutional Insights for Finance

In a tweet, Ripple Senior Executive Officer/Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, Reece Merrick outlines four insights from Ripple’s 2026 survey of global finance leaders.

“Debate is over,” Merrick said while adding that the Ripple 2026 survey of over 1,000 finance leaders provides insight into where finance is going.

Merrick went ahead to share these insights in four points outlined in his tweet. First, 72% of finance leaders say digital assets are now table stakes; second, 74% see stablecoins as a treasury tool, not just payments; third, 89% of these leaders say custody is a top priority; and 71% of corporates prefer a one-stop-shop infrastructure provider.

The new Ripple survey of more than 1,000 global finance leaders revealed that digital assets are now seen as a strategic necessity rather than an optional experiment.

Seventy percent of respondents surveyed by Ripple say firms must offer digital asset solutions in order to stay competitive, with stablecoins seen as especially important for improving the efficiency of cash flow and unlocking working capital.

The key takeaway remains that finance leaders want more from crypto companies, with more than half of fintechs and financial institutions favoring a provider that offers a one-stop-shop solution.

Tokenization interest grows

According to Ripple’s survey, an increasing number of banks and asset managers want to tokenize assets, however, they require partners to do it.

Of these, 89% aim for safe storage and custody first. Meanwhile, banks care a lot about token management (about 82% indicating this), with asset managers focusing more on distribution (about 80% of these).

Nearly all respondents — about 97% — flagged security and certifications like ISO and SOC 2 as critical.

In other news, agent commerce is coming to the XRPL, allowing virtual agents to transact autonomously, including escrowed jobs, verification through evaluators and programmable settlement. Using t54’s x402 facilitator, agents can already natively pay in XRP and RLUSD.