Expert Shows Why XRP Is Not ISO20022 Compliant

XRPL validator Vet has responded to comments made by Jake Claver, a business leader and financial strategist, regarding XRP and ISO 20022.

Claver described ISO 20022 as a global messaging standard enabling financial institutions to communicate in the same language, providing interoperability and allowing systems worldwide to exchange information without friction.

He said that the world’s largest banks already use this standard, and argued that XRP’s integration with ISO 20022 positioned Ripple to play a central role in tokenizing traditional financial systems.

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According to him, this opportunity extends far beyond payments, with XRP potentially serving as the infrastructure for banks to tokenize and transfer large volumes of assets, offering faster settlement, lower costs, and enhanced interoperability.

Nik Bougalis Clarifies the Technical Reality

In his reply, Vet shared a tweet from software engineer Nik Bougalis, which directly addressed the claim.

Bougalis clarified that ISO 20022 is a messaging standard, while XRP is a digital asset. He explained that XRP is no more “ISO 20022 compliant” than BTC, pork bellies, baseball cards, or vinyl records, meaning it is not compliant at all.

Bougalis added that while some of Ripple’s commercial software products do support ISO 20022, this has no direct connection to XRP or the XRP Ledger (XRPL). This distinction is key to understanding the separation between messaging standards and the nature of digital assets.

Distinguishing Messaging Standards from Digital Assets

The technical clarification offered by Bougalis highlights that ISO 20022 defines how financial messages are structured and transmitted between institutions. Compliance refers to the capability of software systems to process and exchange messages in line with this standard.

A digital asset, such as XRP, is a token recorded on a blockchain or distributed ledger. Its existence and transfer are independent of the messaging formats used by financial institutions.

While infrastructure around XRP, such as certain RippleNet solutions, may support ISO 20022 to enable integration with banks and payment networks, this does not mean XRP itself is compliant with the messaging standard.

This exchange underscores the importance of accuracy when discussing interoperability between blockchain assets and the traditional financial system. Conflating the properties of an asset with the capabilities of the software that moves it can lead to misunderstandings. Messaging compliance applies to systems and applications, not to the digital assets they transmit or record.

By pointing to Bougalis’s remarks, VET reinforced the need for clear technical language in industry discussions.

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