The global payments system built on SWIFT is nearing collapse, according to Teucrium CEO Sal Gilbertie.

The executive gave the stark warning during an interview with the Paul Barron Show, where he positioned Ripple and its native XRP token as the likely successors that could change international finance.

Gilberties Warning

In the interview, Gilbertie asserted that SWIFT, the decades-old network facilitating cross-border bank messages, could be on the brink of failure. He directly linked this potential downfall to Ripple’s activities, especially its potential transformation into a major bank following its recent application for a banking charter and its substantial XRP holdings.

Whats Ripple going to do with its 40 billion XRP given that they filed to be a bank?” asked the executive. “One of the leading theories is they just hold that on their balance sheet, get their banking license, and become a top 20 capitalized bank in the world,” he concluded.

The CEO also highlighted how blockchain solves a critical economic inefficiency that banks currently face in international transfers: the need to pre-fund accounts in both the sending and receiving countries.

That all goes away, he told host Paul Barron. The blockchain is literally going to unlock a lot of frozen money on the banks balance sheets Nobody seems to be talking about that. And according to him, a tangible shift of bank volume from SWIFT to Ripple’s blockchain could have a profound effect on the system.

As SWIFT breaks down and ISO 20022 comes into play when Ripple flips all the switches and all these NDAs they talk about come alive you start seeing banks announce ‘we did this much on the blockchain ledger in terms of moving your money, and we did this much on SWIFT, and SWIFT is going down and blockchains going up,’ I think thats a big deal.

The asset manager, whose firm launched the first-ever leveraged XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. in April, also predicted that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could approve spot XRP ETFs before the end of the year.

XRP Price Wobbles as Market Corrects

Despite Gilbertie’s bullish outlook, XRP has faced renewed volatility. As of August 18, the token is trading at an 11-day low at just under $3.00, after dropping 4.6% of its value over the past 24 hours and 9.1% in the last week, according to CoinGecko data.

Analysts warn that the token’s near-term trajectory depends on reclaiming critical resistance levels. Popular trader Ali Martinez said on X that failure to move above $3.30 could expose XRP to a decline toward $2.60, while maintaining support at $2.81 is necessary to preserve its bullish structure.

For now, the asset is trading at about 18% below its July all-time high of $3.65, though it remains up by more than 425% year-on-year.