XRP Ledger unveils institutional DeFi roadmap

Ripple Labs has unveiled its roadmap for building an institutional decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem on the XRP Ledger blockchain network, according to a Feb. 25 blog post. 

The blockchain developer is prioritizing applications that position XRP Ledger as “a safe, secure, and scalable layer 1 for financial institutions looking to use blockchain in a regulated environment,” the developer said. 

They include a permissioned decentralized exchange (DEX), a credit-based DeFi lending protocol and a new token standard, multi-purpose token (MPT), Ripple said. 

Each of these will rely on XRP Ledger’s “decentralized identifiers” to integrate compliance checks into the application’s smart contracts, it said. 

XRP Ledger’s roadmap builds on top of existing infrastructure, including price oracles and an automated market maker (AMM). 

Lagging user growth

The price of XRP Ledger’s native token, XRP (XRP), has increased by more than 300% since Nov. 5, when crypto-friendly Donald Trump won the US presidential race. 

As of Feb. 26, XRP’s market capitalization stands at approximately $128 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. 

However, activity on XRP Ledger still lags behind rival chains. It has a total value locked (TVL) of roughly $80 million, compared to Ethereum’s more than $50 billion, according to data from DefiLlama.

Unlike blockchain networks such as Ethereum, XRP Ledger has not historically supported third-party smart contract deployments. 

Products such as XRP Ledger’s AMM are deployed by Ripple’s core developer community. 

The DEX has handled upward of $1 billion in cryptocurrency swaps since launching in 2024, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in January.

Launched in 2012, XRP Ledger is among the oldest blockchain networks. 

Reasons for optimism

Ripple hopes that leaning into institutional DeFi, including real-world assets (RWAs), will supercharge the network’s growth, according to the blog post.

Tokenized RWAs represent a $30-trillion market opportunity globally, Colin Butler, Polygon’s global head of institutional capital, told Cointelegraph in an interview.

Trump, who has promised to turn the US into the “world’s crypto capital,” plans to tap industry-friendly leaders to head key financial regulators, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several asset managers have applied to list XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US, which JPMorgan expects could attract billions in investor inflows.

Some experts have suggested that the SEC case against Ripple, ongoing since 2022, could be paused or withdrawn entirely.

On Feb. 25, the US regulator dropped its probe into Uniswap, a DEX, as part of a broader pivot on crypto policy under Trump. 

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