Little is known about the proposal’s author, Maximilian Staudinger, aside from his possible affiliation with a German financial firm where he’s listed as an advisor. The proposal has no affiliation with the SEC itself.

Regardless, the five-page document demonstrates the potentially gigantic economic benefits XRP could provide to the U.S. financial system and details how it could improve the nation’s economy.

XRP’s Potential To Unlock Trillions

According to the proposal, XRP’s core value proposition lies in its potential to unlock $1.5 trillion within the U.S. financial system by replacing Nostro accounts.

Nostro accounts are foreign currency accounts that banks hold with overseas institutions to facilitate international transactions.

Currently, an estimated $27 trillion is locked in Nostro accounts worldwide, with the U.S. accounting for approximately $5 trillion.

According to the proposal, replacing the SWIFT system with XRP could lead to significant cost savings.

Staudinger estimates that XRP’s high-speed, low-cost transactions could reduce expenses by up to 30%, freeing up as much as $1.5 trillion of the $5 trillion held in U.S. Nostro accounts.

Additionally, this shift could save $7.5 billion annually in transaction costs.

The proposal also suggests XRP could be used for government payments, including Internal Revenue Service (IRS) refunds, potentially unlocking $500 billion over the next decade.

It even posits that the freed-up funds could be allocated to a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, further integrating digital assets into the financial system.

Can XRP Realistically Integrate Into the U.S. Financial System?

While the numbers suggest significant potential, implementing XRP within the U.S. financial system would face major challenges.

However, the proposal suggests that with an executive order, full integration could be achieved within a year.

For this to happen, the SEC would need to classify Ripple as a payment asset rather than a security—a major policy reversal. This decision remains uncertain, as key pro-crypto appointments under the Trump administration are still pending confirmation.

The proposed rollout involves initial testing in government payments, such as tax refunds, followed by full-scale adoption by banks and financial institutions.

However, this timeline appears overly ambitious. The U.S.’s integration with SWIFT took place over several years.

When SWIFT launched globally in 1973, only a handful of banks—most notably Citibank and Chase Manhattan—were early adopters.

Unlike the proposed rapid deployment of XRP, SWIFT’s adoption in the U.S. was gradual, unfolding organically over a decade before becoming the standard.

Questionable Claims

Simply put, the proposal makes the same pitch Ripple has since its launch: streamlined, low-cost, high-speed financial transactions for a better banking system.

However, some elements of the proposal make little sense. For example, it suggests purchasing 25 million BTC, which is impossible as Bitcoin has a maximum supply of 21 million.

The mysterious appearance of the proposal—genuine or not—coincided with the U.S. Senate Banking Committee’s approval of the GENIUS stablecoin bill, which will hit the Senate floor for a vote in the near future.