In a tweet, Reese Merrick, Ripple’s senior executive officer and managing director for the Middle East and Africa, outlined four insights from Ripple’s 2026 survey of global financial leaders.
“The debate is over,” Merrick said, adding that the Ripple 2026 survey of more than 1,000 financial leaders provides insight into where finance is headed.
The discussion is over. The @Ripple 2026 survey of over 1,000 financial leaders provides insight into the future direction of finance.
🟢72% of financial leaders say digital assets are now critical.
🟢74% see stablecoins as financial tools rather than just payments.
🟢89% said parental rights are their top priority…
— Reece Merrick (@reece_merrick) March 20, 2026
Merrick shared these insights based on the four points he outlined in his tweet. First, 72% of financial leaders say digital assets are now critical. Second, 74% see stablecoins as financial tools rather than just payments. Third, 89% of these leaders say that custody is their top priority. Additionally, 71% of businesses prefer a one-stop-shop infrastructure provider.
A new Ripple survey of more than 1,000 global financial leaders reveals that digital assets are now viewed as a strategic necessity rather than an optional experiment.
70% of respondents surveyed by Ripple said that businesses need to offer digital asset solutions to remain competitive, and stablecoins are considered particularly important for improving cash flow efficiency and freeing up working capital.
Importantly, financial industry leaders are demanding more from crypto companies, with more than half of fintechs and financial institutions favoring providers that offer one-stop-shop solutions.
Interest in tokenization grows
Ripple research shows that more banks and asset managers want to tokenize their assets, but they need a partner to do so.
Of these, 89% are primarily aimed at safe storage and storage. On the other hand, banks are very interested in token management (about 82% indicate this) and asset managers are more focused on distribution (about 80% of them).
Almost all respondents (approximately 97%) reported that security and certifications such as ISO and SOC 2 are important.
In other news, agent commerce is being introduced to XRPL, enabling virtual agents to conduct autonomous transactions such as escrowed jobs, rater validation, and programmable payments. With T54’s x402 facilitator, agents can already make payments natively $XRP and RLUSD.
