Headline: Trump’s executive order could open Fed payment rails — and give Ripple/XRP a major shot at becoming the dollar’s crypto “bridge”
A new executive order signed May 19 by President Donald Trump is forcing a fast review of how the U.S. dollar payment system treats fintech and crypto firms — a development that could meaningfully boost Ripple and its native asset, XRP.
What the order does
- The order directs the heads of federal financial regulators to review their laws and practices within 90 days to identify rules that might be blocking fintech and crypto companies from partnering with federally regulated institutions (banks, credit unions, investment advisers).
- Regulators must also examine policies that make it harder for these firms to obtain national bank charters, insurance, and other federal authorizations.
- The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) gets 120 days to submit a full report on who can access government payment accounts and services and whether the Fed has the legal authority — and how risky it would be — to give crypto firms direct access to its payment system.
Why this matters for Ripple and XRP
Ripple has long marketed XRP as a fast, low-cost bridge currency for cross-border dollar settlements, targeting banks and payment providers as customers. A key obstacle has been limited access to the Federal Reserve’s payment infrastructure: under current rules, direct access to Reserve Bank payment accounts is generally restricted to depository institutions (traditional banks). That restriction forces crypto firms to seek alternative routes — including national trust bank charters — just to connect to core dollar rails.
Several crypto companies (Kraken, Coinbase, Circle, Anchorage, Paxos, BitGo among them) have pursued national bank or trust charters to qualify for this kind of access; regulators only recently approved Kraken’s access to a Fed master account. Ripple itself has been pursuing a national bank charter and has secured conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to expand its role in the U.S. banking system.
If the Fed opens direct access to digital-asset firms, Ripple could potentially plug its settlement technology straight into U.S. dollar payment rails. That would allow XRP to function as an on‑demand bridge asset for real-time dollar settlements — a practical use case that could increase demand for the token and accelerate institutional adoption.
Bottom line
The executive order doesn’t guarantee Fed access for crypto firms, but it launches a fast-moving regulatory review that could remove long-standing roadblocks. For Ripple and XRP holders, the move signals that U.S. policy may be shifting toward greater integration of digital-asset infrastructure with the dollar system — a change that could reshape cross-border payments if regulators and the Fed move to enable it.
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