Overview
- Ripple said it will merge its flagship Swell conference with the developer-focused Apex event and stage the combined gathering in New York this October at The Shed in Hudson Yards.
- CTO Emeritus David 'JoelKatz' Schwartz said he expects this to be the biggest Swell yet and highlighted a program focused on payments infrastructure, tokenization, DeFi, interoperability, and early AI experiments.
- A high-profile speaker list confirmed by Ripple includes Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, actor and philanthropist Matt Damon, Ripple President Monica Long, and David Schwartz, signaling outreach to traditional finance leaders.
- Ripple and ecosystem leaders say the event will prioritize practical, enterprise-oriented deployments and developer demonstrations rather than short-term market narratives.
- Organizers opened early registration with discounted pricing through July 11, and the conference could speed institutional interest in tokenization and cross‑chain tools by putting builders and decision-makers in the same room.