According to the media, Ripple executive, Reese Merrick, is of the view that encrypted payments are more like e-commerce around the year 2000: user demand has not fully broken out, but the bottom facility is developing. According to him, it was not short-term trade heat that really determined whether or not the industry was going to become universal, but whether the payment experience was smooth enough.

Stabilizing currency and access pass to critical infrastructure

Merrick says that today's encryption payments are going through a slow construction period. Extended block chains, regulated access to French currency, stable currency and easier-to-use wallets are playing the role of broadband networks, bank card payments and smartphones for the year.

In his view, it was not necessary for the user to have direct contact with the block chain technology itself. The key to the expansion of access to encrypted payments is whether the payment, liquidation and transfer processes are as natural as traditional Internet payments, and whether the technical layer is better hidden backstage.

Ripple bet on corporate payments and cross-border settlements

The article mentions that Ripple's recent product orientation is largely consistent with this judgement. Companies have continued to focus on the stabilization of currency, cross-border payments, monetization settlements and enterprise-level infrastructure, while promoting a clearer regulatory environment for digital assets in the United States.

Prior to this, Ripple and Bitso launched a stable MXNB peso peg on XRP Ledger. Ripple states that MXNB and RLUSD can be used for a compliance settlement between the United States and Mexico.

In addition, Ripple introduced XRPL AI Starter Kit, which is paid to AI agents, to allow software agents to use XRP and RLUSD to complete automated payments through x402 protocols.

The expansion of payment operations does not equal the simultaneous growth of XRP demand

However, the article also notes that the expansion of Ripple's payment business is not the same as the XRP price or currency demand. Banks and businesses can carry out transfers on XRP Ledger with a stable currency or monetized asset, without having to hold a large quantity of XRP and with a small fee.

This means that the increase in the usage of the books does not necessarily translate directly into a new XRP purchaser. The market performance of the XRP continues to depend more on the demand of the coin itself, the flow of exchange funds, the movement of ETFs and overall risk preferences.

Universalization still depends on trust and the maturity of the tools

The central judgement of Merrick is that the future of encrypted payments may, like electronic commerce, go through years of slow construction before moving into the mainstream. To achieve this, the industry still needs easier wallets, more stable money stabilization systems, a clearer regulatory environment, business tools and better consumer protection.

The article argues that if these conditions continue to improve, users may not notice clearly the existence of encryption technology in future payments, and that the block chain is more a back-office settlement layer.