Cryptocurrencies have come a long way since Bitcoin’s inception. Altcoins such as Ripple’s XRP, Hedera Hashgraph, Cardano (ADA) and XDC network offer enhanced services to traditional finance dubbed ISO 20022 compliant.
Tokens that comply with regulatory needs and offer alternative traditional payment systems have been identified as “ISO compliant” tokens by some crypto investors.
The meaning of ISO compliance spawns from Ripple’s partnership with Swift on their ISO 20022 financial standard between financial institutions, enabling easier international financial communication.
This page will cover top ISO compliant tokens that may play a major role in revolutionizing the financial system.
Ripple (XRP)
XRP is the native token of the Ripple network, which has been designed to facilitate low-cost international payments between businesses and institutions.
XRP has a reputation for being the best of the best for remittances, cross-border payments and fast payments with settlement times between 3-5 seconds.
Ripple’s partnership with Swift has made them an integral part of the ISO 20022 standard. RippleNet has been adopted by banking groups such as the Bank of America to settle cross-border transactions. Ripple’s partnership with Swift makes XRP a key token in the ISO compliant list.
Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Stellar Lumens is a payment network that allows businesses and individuals to make affordable, global cross-border payments to anywhere in the world, aiming to change the financial system.
Stellar Lumens co-founder Jed McCaleb was also a co-founder of Ripple. Jed McCaleb eventually left Ripple due to disagreements with other founders and team members on the direction that Ripple was taking as a global payment system.
According to McCaleb, Ripple’s ecosystem is too centralized. McCaleb founded Stellar Lumens with lawyer Joyce Kim as a decentralized payment system with similar goals to Ripple.
The Stellar network aims for a decentralized global payment system more suited for businesses and individuals compared to Ripple’s centralized, institutional direction. Stellar has partnered with IBM, MoneyGrab and Franklin Templeton in the past to facilitate cross-border payments and innovative payment systems.
Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR)
Hedera Hashgraph is a distributed ledger that utilizes a hashgraph consensus to facilitate the HBAR token, decentralized finance, tokenization efforts, and more. Founded by Leemon Baird, Hedera’s consensus makes it suitable for institutional investments, collaborations and designing new payment systems.
The Hedera Council is led by some of the top institutions in the world such as Google, IBM, abrdn, Worldpay, and DELL.
Hedera is able to settle institutional payments around the world, similar to Stellar Lumens, thanks to its unique Hashgraph consensus mechanism and strong connections to big businesses.
XDC Network
XDC network is a blockchain network that provides hybrid private and public network solutions for businesses and individuals.
XDC was created by XinFin as a scalable network for global financial applications offering unique private, fast and cost effective payments with real-world asset capabilities.
XDC aims to tackle inefficiencies in the traditional financial world. As an ISO compliant token, XDC is able to provide alternative blockchain infrastructures for financial systems.
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain network created by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson. The network is home to a growing decentralized ecosystem and sidechains such as Midnight providing private transactions.
ADA is the native token of Cardano and has been adopted by President Trump in his recent US Crypto Reserve announcement in 2025. Investors believe Cardano to be an ISO compliant token due to their strong connections and regulatory compliance.
Cardano’s POS network enables low cost, fast transactions with an infrastructure ripe for institutional adoption and businesses.
Algorand (ALGO)
Algorand is a network built on a pure proof-of-stake consensus to facilitate fast, affordable and reliable transactions on a robust network with no down times or slowdowns. The Algorand network has been utilized by businesses such as FlightX for airline travel and HesabPay for financial inclusivity.
Algorand heading into 2025 aims to integrate its network with more traditional financial systems and appeal to greater financial businesses, earning its ISO compliant tag. In 2024 the Algorand network was used by the European Central Bank for digital integrations on the Eurosystem.
In the near future, we may see Algorand come head to head with the likes of Stellar Lumens and Ripple in facilitating alternative global financial payment systems.
Why do investors care about ISO 20022 compliant tokens?
ISO compliant tokens are regarded by many investors as strong altcoins which will benefit from traditional finance entering the cryptocurrency space.
Their goals, such as becoming global payment systems or innovating the financial world in some way, can lead to tokens becoming some of the most important altcoins in the cryptocurrency market.
Most ISO compliant tokens are collaborating with banks, leading institutions, and businesses from the traditional financial world, which can elevate the position of a cryptocurrency token compared to others who are not in the line of sight of banks.
For example, Ripple being adopted by the US government for payments or data keeping of some sort is not out of the question, knowing how close Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse is with President Trump.
Donald Trump has also mentioned ISO compliant tokens by name on Truth Social when the US Crypto Reserve was greenlit, with Cardano and Ripple making the cut.
Benefits of ISO 20022 compliant tokens in the cryptocurrency market
ISO compliant tokens tend to be some of the most regulatory compliant in the crypto industry, making them easier to adopt by traditional financial systems.
Cardano’s ADA token, Hedera’s HBAR and Ripple’s XRP have all been chosen by investment firms for ETF submissions to the SEC, placing them alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum as legitimate, old world investment assets.
Each token’s regulatory compliance allows investment firms to utilize their tokens in various ways, such as adoption in products, integrations into payment solutions or utilizing their networks for real-world asset tokenizations worth billions.
In conclusion: ISO 20022 compliance and crypto
ISO compliant tokens provide crypto investors with the eventual institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies thanks to their regulatory compliance.
Although Ripple is the true “ISO 20022” token, the compliant tag may be used to describe a myriad of cryptos which also aim to revolutionize global finance and bring about decentralized, financial inclusion.
ISO compliant tokens are able to easily bridge gaps between traditional finance and web3, making them strong investments for those wishing to gain exposure to a new financial future.
