'XRP Ledger Was 15 Years Ahead': Ripple's Ex Chief Engineer Reacts to New Visa-Mastercard Stablecoin

Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available. The announcement of the Open USD (OUSD) stablecoin by a consortium of 140 financial giants , including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and BlackRock, sparked discussion about the historical roots of this technology. Former Ripple principal engineer Matt Hamilton noted that the structure of the new project effectively repeats the architectural solutions embedded in the XRP Ledger (XRPL) back in 2012. Advertisement The comment was prompted by an ironic post on X about the emergence of yet another "universal standard," which only increases the number of competing coins on the market. The 2012 concept According to Hamilton, the original idea of the XRP Ledger creators was based on the prediction that, in the future, every bank would want to issue its own stablecoin. To ensure their interoperability, the developers integrated two core functions into the network at the dawn of the industry: the free issuance of custom tokens and a built-in decentralized exchange (DEX) with an automated order book. HOT Stories Bitcoin (BTC), Stellar (XLM), XRP and Hyperliquid (HYPE) Price Analysis for July 1: Market Must Regain the Foundation Ripple's RLUSD Rapidly Shrinks as New Major Stablecoin Emerges Fifteen years ago, the traditional financial sector showed no interest in this model. However, current events show that major players eventually arrived at exactly this approach. Advertisement "The original concept behind the XRP Ledger and the reason it allows anyone to issue stablecoins and has a built-in DEX was because they thought every bank would want to issue its own stablecoin. At the time, the banks didn't. Seems XRP Ledger was 15 years ahead of the trend." — Matt Hamilton, Former Ripple Principal Engineer The launch of Open USD is technically structured so that any company in the consortium can issue its own stablecoin and fully retain the yield from its reserves. This leads to the emergence of dozens of new competing tokens from Visa, Stripe or Coinbase, which fully corresponds to the old prediction made by the XRPL developers. Advertisement You Might Also Like Tue, 06/30/2026 - 13:30 'Safety Comes First': Ripple Engineer Explains Delay Behind XRP Ledger Upgrade By Tomiwabold Olajide Ripple joined this project as an integration partner, so the consortium's new assets will be supported on the XRP Ledger. This market evolution highlights how far ahead of its time early blockchain technology truly was. As a result, the built-in exchange and token issuance functions embedded in the network back in 2012 are simply beginning to perform their original technical task: enabling the exchange of multiple independent bank-issued coins. #XRP Ledger #Ripple News