Recently, rising ETF expectations, political support in the U.S., advancement in payment services, and aggressive expansion into stablecoins have once again brought Ripple back into the spotlight.

Decentralization is considered a core belief in the crypto world, yet the story of the veteran blockchain Ripple is full of drama and contrast. Since its inception, Ripple has been criticized for its highly centralized token distribution model, which many claim runs counter to crypto ideals. Even its founders have admitted that the company “relies on token sales to survive.” At the same time, this crypto project—worth hundreds of billions of dollars—has been accused of lacking technical innovation and delivering mediocre revenue performance. Forbes even went so far as to label Ripple a “zombie company.”

Nevertheless, the market tells a different story. Ripple has gained the favor of financial institutions, and its market cap has experienced explosive rallies, at times rivaling traditional giants. Recently, rising ETF expectations, political support in the U.S., advancement in payment services, and aggressive expansion into stablecoins have once again brought Ripple back into the spotlight.

Focusing on Payments, Ripple Expands Its Business on Multiple Fronts

Ripple has continued to push forward with business expansion this year. As is widely known, cross-border remittances are Ripple’s core business. In 2025, it has continued to extend its global reach—for example, Ripple expanded into the African market through its partnership with Chipper Cash; it also worked with Unicâmbio, Portugal’s oldest currency exchange institution, to promote instant payments between Brazil and Portugal; and SBI Shinsei Bank adopted Ripple’s DLT for international remittances.

To ensure ongoing legal and compliant operations, Ripple is actively pursuing regulatory licenses around the world. As of April 2025, Ripple has obtained over 55 Money Transmitter Licenses (MTLs) globally, covering 33 U.S. states and regions like Dubai. In recent months alone, Ripple has secured licenses in New York and Texas, and became the first blockchain-based payments provider to receive a payment license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority, enabling it to offer regulated crypto payment services in the UAE.

Moreover, Ripple is expanding its influence in the payments space through its stablecoin RLUSD. Since launching in December last year, RLUSD’s market cap has surpassed $290 million. In 2025, Ripple has accelerated the development of RLUSD’s use cases. For instance, Ripple partnered with Chainlink to boost RLUSD’s utility in DeFi; it also teamed up with Revolut and Zero Hash to broaden RLUSD’s market presence. Recently, RLUSD was listed on Kraken and integrated into Ripple’s payment solution—Ripple Payments—for use in cross-border transactions by clients like BKK Forex and iSend. Looking ahead, Ripple plans to open RLUSD access to more payment platforms.

Recently, Ripple announced a $1.25 billion acquisition of crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road, marking one of the largest M&A deals in the crypto industry to date. As a leading brokerage and credit network, Hidden Road serves more than 300 institutional clients, has cleared over $10 billion through traditional payment channels, and has processed over 50 million transactions. After the acquisition, Hidden Road will integrate RLUSD as collateral for its prime brokerage products and will migrate its post-trade operations to the XRPLedger blockchain. This move will not only bring greater liquidity and utility to RLUSD but also help Ripple expand further in the real-world asset (RWA) space.

In addition, Ripple is expanding into crypto custody and wallet services. In mid-March, Ripple Labs filed a trademark application for “Ripple Custody.” According to the filing, the trademark covers financial services, including the storage and management of crypto assets to meet financial management needs. The filing came shortly after Ripple launched its custody service in October 2024, suggesting the company is seeking to diversify its revenue streams beyond payment settlements. The application also mentions “downloadable software for the custody, transfer, and storage of cryptocurrency, fiat currency, virtual currency, and digital currency,” hinting that Ripple may be planning to launch an official crypto wallet. If realized, such a product could create new revenue growth through transaction fees.

Notably, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently revealed that Ripple plans to enter additional sectors of finance in the future, including payments, real estate, and securities trading.

SEC Drops Lawsuit After Four Years; Ripple’s “Close” Ties with Trump

Following Trump’s return to office, the U.S. regulatory environment for the crypto industry has clearly shifted toward a more relaxed stance. After years of legal battles, Ripple has finally achieved a “major victory.” In March of this year, Ripple announced that the U.S. SEC officially dropped its four-year-long lawsuit against the company. The two parties reached a preliminary settlement, with the SEC agreeing to return $75 million of the $125 million fine ordered by the court last year, leaving only $50 million to conclude the case. In return, Ripple agreed to withdraw its cross-appeal.

“This moment has finally arrived—one we’ve long been waiting for. The SEC will drop its appeal. This is a complete victory for Ripple, and from any angle, it’s a win for the entire crypto industry. The future looks bright. Let’s build together,” Garlinghouse posted at the time.

Previously, Ripple’s expansion in the U.S. market was severely hampered by the prolonged “securities dispute” with the SEC. In an interview with Fox Business, Garlinghouse revealed that the lawsuit forced Ripple to shift 95% of its client base overseas. In response, Ripple actively engaged in U.S. political lobbying and, during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, donated significant funds to the super PAC Fairshake—becoming one of the most generous corporate donors in the crypto space.

Ripple’s “close relationship” with Trump has also fueled speculation about its future growth in the U.S. market. In early January, Garlinghouse posted a photo on X of himself dining with Trump and others at Mar-a-Lago, drawing widespread attention. Shortly afterward, during the initial launch of Trump’s meme coin TRUMP, Ripple and Galaxy Digital jointly provided a $160 million emergency loan to crypto payments company MoonPay to ensure it could meet the high transaction demand during the launch phase. This support was seen as a key factor in TRUMP’s rapid early growth.

In mid-February, Trump shared an article about XRP on Truth Social, which quoted Garlinghouse as saying that since Trump’s election victory in November last year, Ripple has seen a significant increase in U.S.-based business transactions and hiring. This move quickly ignited market sentiment, sending XRP trading volume soaring. Just last month, Trump took things further by announcing that XRP and other cryptocurrencies would be included in the United States’ strategic reserves—a policy statement that sparked strong reactions across the market.

XRP ETF Global Expansion Accelerates; CEO Says Launch May Come in Second Half of the Year

As the regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies in the U.S. evolves rapidly, the ETF application boom is giving Ripple a significant boost.

So far this year, there have been a number of developments surrounding XRP-related ETF products. For instance, asset management firm Purpose Investments filed a preliminary prospectus for the first Ripple ETF with Canadian securities regulators; in February, Brazil approved the world’s first spot XRP ETF, which will be listed on the B3 exchange in Brazil; in March, Hashdex submitted an amendment to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), aiming to expand its ETF product to include XRP and other cryptocurrencies; and more recently, investment advisory firm Teucrium launched the first U.S. leveraged ETF linked to XRP, designed to provide 2x daily exposure to XRP tokens.

Meanwhile, well-known firms such as Bitwise, Grayscale, WisdomTree, and Franklin Templeton have all submitted applications for spot XRP ETFs. These applications have yet to be approved by the SEC. However, Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, believes that now that the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit has concluded, approval of a spot XRP ETF is “clearly just a matter of time.” Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart echoed this view, predicting that an XRP ETF could launch in the coming months, most likely starting with a futures-based product.

Garlinghouse, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, revealed that an XRP ETF may launch in the second half of 2025, and that there are currently around 11 ETF filings from different companies awaiting SEC approval. He also hinted that an IPO for Ripple Labs is not out of the question.

Token Surges to Multi-Year High Amid Growing Debate Over Model

Driven by multiple bullish factors, the price of XRP has seen a significant boost. According to data from CoinGecko, XRP has surged as much as 70.62% since the beginning of this year, reaching $3.30, marking its highest level since January 2018.

Garlinghouse bluntly stated that, with XRP’s rising price and growing demand for Ripple’s blockchain solutions, the company’s previous $11 billion valuation is now “seriously outdated.”

In a recent report, Standard Chartered Bank noted that XRP has risen sixfold within six months of Trump’s election. The bank believes this growth is sustainable, partly due to changes in SEC leadership, and partly because XRP occupies a unique position among digital assets—at the core of one of the most promising application areas: cross-border and cross-currency payments. At the same time, XRP Ledger (XRPL) aligns closely with the key use case of stablecoins like Tether—facilitating financial transactions for traditional finance (TradFi) institutions via blockchain technology. Stablecoin transaction volume is expected to grow tenfold over the next four years. Ripple also plans to expand XRPL’s reach into the tokenization sector. These positive factors suggest that XRP could keep pace with its biggest competitor, Bitcoin. The bank further forecasted that XRP may climb to $12.50 before the end of Trump’s presidency. However, Standard Chartered also acknowledged two drawbacks of XRPL: a relatively small developer base, and limited value capture capability.

However, Ripple’s token model has also sparked controversy. For example, Pierre Rochard, VP of Research at Riot Platforms, once warned that investors are “not investing in Ripple the company, but merely receiving tokens created out of thin air. XRP is not a security, because Ripple doesn’t actually owe you ‘utility’ or anything else.” In response, Ripple CTO David “JoelKatz” Schwartz stated, “Ripple can, will, and should act in its own interest. Investors should not expect Ripple to act in a way that harms the company or its shareholders for the benefit of token holders.” This statement implies that Ripple has the right to sell XRP tokens to raise operational funds, which has raised concerns among investors. In fact, Garlinghouse has previously admitted, “If we didn’t sell our XRP holdings, we wouldn’t be profitable or generate positive cash flow.”

Public data shows that XRP has a total supply of 100 billion tokens, of which 20 billion are held by its three co-founders: Chris Larsen, Jed McCaleb, and Arthur Britto. The remaining 80 billion were allocated to Ripple Labs.

To ease concerns about XRP’s supply, Ripple began locking 55 billion XRP (55% of total supply) into XRP Ledger-based escrow accounts starting in 2017. These escrows are controlled by smart contracts that automatically release 1 billion XRP per month, which was later adjusted to 450 million per month after 2020. However, not all unlocked tokens enter circulation—Ripple typically sells only a portion (e.g., 20%–25%) of the unlocked XRP, with the rest re-locked into future escrows.

It’s also worth noting that Ripple’s founders still hold a significant amount of XRP. According to crypto sleuth ZachXBT, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen still controls XRP addresses holding over 2.7 billion XRP (worth around $7.18 billion as of March). These Larsen-linked wallets transferred more than $109 million worth of XRP to exchanges in January 2025 alone.

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