Foreign media reported that during the sharp rise in XRP in 2017, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse systematically explained why XRP was suitable for cross-border payments. The core argument was that payment institutions did not need to hold XRP for a long time, but rather used it as a bridging asset between US dollars and Mexican pesos for a very short period, thereby reducing settlement times and capital occupation.

Cross-border transfers aim for settlement efficiency.

Garlinghouse stated in an interview with Bloomberg at that time that traditional cross-border remittance processes were still slow, in contrast to the instant communication of the internet era. Ripple aims to shorten what used to take several days for cross-border settlements to just a few seconds.

At that time, he pointed out that the competitors of Ripple were traditional payment networks such as SWIFT, emphasizing that faster transaction processing times and lower processing costs were the main reasons why banks and payment service providers were willing to try new solutions.

XRP is packaged as a bridging asset

Regarding the significant increase of XRP in 2017, Garlinghouse acknowledged at that time that its price fluctuations were obvious. However, his explanation was not to downplay the fluctuations themselves, but rather to emphasize that the holding period in usage scenarios was very short.

According to him, the transfer speed of XRP is much faster than that of Bitcoin, so payment institutions only face a period of price volatility lasting for a few seconds. This statement later became one of the core arguments in Ripple's external communications: volatility does exist, but within the payment process, the time during which the risk is exposed is sufficiently short.

The US dollar against the Mexican peso was the demonstration channel at that time.

Garlinghouse also provided an example of a payment channel that was already in operation at that time, which was the conversion of US dollars to Mexican pesos. The basic process was as follows: banks or payment institutions first held US dollars, then converted those dollars into XRP, and subsequently transferred XRP to Mexico, where it was exchanged for pesos upon arrival.

• Starting asset: US dollars
• Intermediate bridging: XRP
• Destination asset: Mexican Peso

The focus of this model is not to have institutions configure XRP in the long term, but to use it as an intermediate transfer tool. Ripple initially aimed to start with banks and then gradually expand to corporate cross-border payment scenarios.

Looking back at the continuity of this narrative

The article argues that, looking back from today, the proposition put forward by Garlinghouse in 2017 has become the foundational narrative for Ripple's continuous reinforcement of payment-related concepts over the years. In other words, the issue of volatility associated with XRP has been redefined as a risk associated with very short-term trading processes, rather than a risk of holding positions for an extended period.

This review also mentions that the market environment in which XRP operates today is significantly different from that of 2017, including increased support from institutional products and clearer policy discussions in the United States. However, the focus of the article is not to present new developments, but rather to illustrate that the early positioning of Ripple regarding XRP has remained largely consistent over the subsequent years.