The company is well within the top 20 in this list.
CNBC has published its updated list for the top 50 disruptor companies for 2026, and there’s only one blockchain- or crypto-related firm in it – Ripple.
The entity behind XRP was described as ‘new money,’ and it’s positioned as the 16th most disruptive company.
Ripple Makes the List
It’s worth noting that this is far from the first time Ripple has been included in this list. Recall that one of the first examples was in 2021 when it took the 38th spot. Since then, though, the firm has climbed steadily, and the new ranking, updated yesterday, shows that it has risen to the 16th spot with a brief explanation of what it does: ‘new money.’
On its way up, Ripple has surpassed some other notable names such as Samsara Eco, Canva, Carbon Robotics, Applied Intuition, Lila Sciences, Waabi, Revolut, Perplexity, and WHOOP. Ripple is the only company or project from the cryptocurrency/blockchain niche.
AI Domination
Given the major growth in the AI sector, a large portion of the companies in this list are from that industry. In fact, the leader in 2026 is Anthropic, which was described as “AI’s new No 1.” OpenAI follows suit, and Databricks (the infrastructure of the AI enterprise) is in third.
“The domination of AI as a theme has not changed, but it has intensified and it is increasingly being reflected in the top-heavy nature of the Disruptor 50. Forty-three of the 50 companies in the 2026 list class say AI is essential to their disruptive business models. Total funding across the 2026 Disruptors rose to $337 billion, up from $127 billion in 2025 — an increase of more than 2.5x. Total implied valuation, skewed by the massive sums being raised by the top AI firms, climbed to $2.4 trillion from $798 billion, roughly tripling year over year.”
XRP Goes Viral
Shortly after CNBC’s updated rankings went viral, Santiment Intelligence published a post outlining why certain cryptocurrencies are trending now. For XRP, the reasoning was its “long-term role in cross-border payments versus replacement by stablecoins or alternative rails.”
The analytics firm stated that Reddit discussions have focused on Ripple’s strategic moves, such as stablecoin experiments like RLUSD, token issuance, acquisitions, and fundraising, against concerns about supply dynamics, institutional adoption or exits, and possible corporate selling.