Ripple executive Reece Merrick compared today’s crypto payment landscape to the early days of e-commerce, stating that digital currency payments are moving through a foundational phase similar to online retail in 2000. “In 2000, the dot-com bubble was bursting and buying things online was globally negligible, estimated at roughly 0.2% of all retail sales. People simply didn’t trust the web with their money yet,” Merrick said in a June 24 post on X. He noted that global e-commerce later became part of daily life because infrastructure improved—secure payment gateways, better internet access, and smartphones reduced friction.
Merrick argued that scalable blockchains, stablecoins, regulated fiat on-ramps, and simple wallets now serve the same role that broadband, cards, and mobile phones played for online shopping. “Crypto payments are quietly moving through the same slow, foundational phase before inevitable mainstream normalization,” he added. His focus was on payments rather than trading as the area where broader adoption could occur.
The commentary aligns with Ripple’s current strategy of expanding payment infrastructure. Ripple and Bitso recently launched MXNB, a Mexican peso-backed stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, and Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin supports U.S.-Mexico settlement. The company has also introduced tools for AI-agent payments via its XRPL AI Starter Kit, allowing automated transactions with XRP and RLUSD. Mastercard’s global settlement network now supports USDC, RLUSD, and PayPal’s PYUSD, highlighting the growing stablecoin ecosystem where supply nears $300 billion.
However, the article underscores that XRP demand remains separate from ledger adoption. Banks can use the XRP Ledger with minimal XRP holdings, as stablecoins and tokenized assets move on the network while using only small amounts of XRP for fees. This gap means Ripple’s payments business could expand even if XRP’s price depends on direct demand, exchange flows, or ETF activity. Merrick’s comparison thus emphasizes infrastructure over short-term price movements, predicting slow but steady normalization if trust, regulation, and consumer protection catch up.
