After enjoying a market monopoly for decades, SWIFT finally started getting a run for its money when blockchain-based solutions entered the market. These new solutions were super fast, which it was not and were only a fraction of the cost that they charges. Naturally, this wouldn’t sit very well with the people at the helm of SWIFT and they have tried every way they can to discredit these new solutions.
The latest is a tweet from SWIFT that set off all kinds of tempers from Ripple and by extension all crypto enthusiasts.
#Cryptocurrencies will not solve delays in international #payments, but increased transparency through #SWIFTgpi can make payments faster and cheaper, according to Martin Walker, Center for Evidence-Based Management https://t.co/v7tAxnB1MR via @HouseofCommons #TreasuryCommittee pic.twitter.com/QIXtbZPip2
— SWIFT (@swiftcommunity) May 7, 2018
The man being referenced by SWIFT is Martin Walker, the man who tore into Ripple at the recently held UK House of Commons Treasury Committee session. During the session, Walker repeatedly discredited Ripple as not suited to operate in the financial sector as XRP was too volatile and Ripple “isn’t decentralized”. Ryan Zagone did a superb job standing up for Ripple as he settled all the fears and doubts raised by Walker.
However, in retrospect, people have come to question Walker’s intentions especially as he is a former product developer for R3, the banking consortium that has been the biggest rival for Ripple. Many in the crypto community have accused Walker of conflict of interest, casting doubts on his intentions as he discredited Ripple.
The replies to the tweet were evidence of people who are tired of all the slander and under-handed tactics SWIFT has had to result to in its competition with Ripple. As Ripple continues to rake in more clients, the viability of SWIFT has come under questions as it’s not only slow and inefficient but also quite costly.
SWIFT GPI is slower than an XRP transaction and does not solve the liquidity problem. Sorry, Martin Walkers opinions don’t change facts. This is like watching a typewriter salesman attempt sales at the dawn of computing. Oh hey, and how ’bout this?
Yet another enraged user replied:
Lies. Slander. Defamation. Ripple and it’s asset XRP take only 3-4 seconds for less than a dollar cent per transaction. Swift needs prefunds in each country by nostro/vostro. Ripple does not. Also, all manual work in between gets automated. So Swift why do you lie so much?
Are these the last kicks of a dying horse? Only time will tell
