Ripple has announced that Academy Award-winning actor and Water.org co-founder Matt Damon will be a keynote speaker at Swell 2026, the company’s annual conference scheduled for Oct. 27–29 in New York City.
The event will take place at The Shed in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards and is expected to bring together leaders from finance, technology, blockchain, and nonprofit organizations.
While Ripple has confirmed Damon’s participation, the company has not yet revealed the topic, format, or timing of his keynote presentation.
Ripple also announced four additional speakers joining the lineup: Alastair Sewell, Senior Investment Director at Aviva; Chase Lax, CEO of Susquehanna Crypto; Gary White, CEO and co-founder of Water.org; and Jenny Just, co-founder of PEAK6.
The conference will feature a wide range of speakers from both traditional finance and the digital asset industry. Confirmed participants include Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, President Monica Long, CTO Emeritus David Schwartz, Robinhood crypto executive Johann Kerbrat, BNY’s Laide Majiyagbe, Intercontinental Exchange executive Michael Blaugrund, and former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan.
Damon’s appearance is closely linked to his work with Water.org, the nonprofit organization he co-founded with Gary White. The organization helps families gain access to safe water and sanitation by working with local financial institutions to provide affordable financing solutions.
Ripple and Water.org already have an established partnership. Earlier this year, Ripple joined Water.org’s Get Blue campaign as its exclusive digital asset and payments partner. Through the initiative, Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin is being used to help move funding to microfinance partners serving communities in emerging markets.
Although the partnership has fueled speculation about the topic of Damon’s speech, neither Ripple nor Water.org has confirmed whether his keynote will focus on RLUSD, humanitarian payments, or the Get Blue campaign.
Swell 2026 will also mark the first time Ripple combines its Swell conference with XRPL Apex, an event traditionally focused on XRP Ledger developers and researchers.
The merged event is expected to feature more than 50 sessions across three stages, with over 75 speakers and more than 1,500 attendees projected by organizers.
Discussion topics will include payments, stablecoins, tokenization, crypto markets, exchange-traded funds, decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, privacy, quantum computing, and XRP Ledger technology.
Ripple says the combined format is designed to bring together institutional finance professionals, developers, policymakers, and blockchain innovators under one roof to explore the future of digital finance.
Registration for the event is currently open, with standard tickets available through Oct. 5. A final registration period will run from Oct. 6 to Oct. 20 at a higher price.
In addition to the main conference, Ripple is planning an institutional summit and a hackathon as part of the broader Swell 2026 program.
More speaker announcements and a full event agenda are expected in the coming weeks. For now, Matt Damon’s appearance stands out as one of the headline attractions for what is shaping up to be Ripple’s largest conference to date.
