Ripple Restarts Global Expansion, Middle East Becomes Important Strategic Area

Ripple is rapidly rebooting its global expansion in the Middle East, with Dubai becoming a key point for its layout of tokenized real-world assets (RWA).

Recently, the XRP Ledger has been selected as the underlying network for a blockchain tokenization project in Dubai's real estate sector, demonstrating Ripple and XRP's development in government and enterprise collaboration, cross-border settlements, and stablecoin infrastructure, which is gradually transforming into the company's business breakthrough direction.

At the same time, Nasdaq-listed energy company VivoPower International announced the completion of a $121 million private placement financing, which will transform into a strategy centered on XRP as a core cryptocurrency reserve. Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Abdulaziz Al Saud led a $100 million investment, demonstrating the recognition and bet of Middle Eastern capital on the XRP ecosystem.

XRP Ledger Becomes Public Chain for Dubai Real Estate Tokenization Project

The Dubai Land Department announced a collaboration with the asset tokenization platform Ctrl Alt to launch the Middle East's first government-led real estate tokenization project, PRYPCO. This project is jointly supported by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and the Dubai Future Foundation, aiming to achieve the on-chain issuance of real estate assets on the XRP Ledger through Ctrl Alt's PRYPCO Mint platform, with a minimum investment threshold of 2,000 dirhams (approximately 545 USD).

This project is an important part of Dubai's "Real Estate 2033 Strategy", aiming to achieve a real estate tokenization market of 60 billion dirhams (approximately 16.3 billion USD) before 2033. Ctrl Alt has obtained the relevant licenses and stated that it has completed the tokenization of nearly 295 million USD in assets.

XRPL adopts the Ripple protocol consensus algorithm that does not require mining, enabling transaction settlement in seconds. XRPL is also actively promoting the stablecoin ecosystem on its network. A certain company has announced that it will launch the euro-pegged stablecoin EURCV on XRPL in 2025; another company will also introduce the Brazil real-pegged stablecoin BBRL on XRPL, laying a solid foundation for building a multi-asset and multi-scenario tokenization infrastructure on XRPL.

Middle East Strategy Accelerates: Obtaining Licenses, Acquiring Brokerage Firms

Ripple's emphasis on the Middle Eastern market is no coincidence. As early as November 2020, Ripple established a regional headquarters at the Dubai International Financial Centre. Now, the Middle East accounts for about 20% of Ripple's global clients.

In March this year, Ripple received a regulatory license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority, becoming the first compliant blockchain payment provider in the region. In May, Ripple announced a partnership with UAE digital bank Zand Bank and fintech company Mamo to integrate Ripple's cross-border payment system into their financial services framework, supporting round-the-clock cross-border settlements. Zand Bank also plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the AED to enhance local digital payment capabilities.

The stablecoin RLUSD is also enriching Ripple's business ecosystem, supporting the company's expansion. RLUSD not only offers an annual yield of up to 8%-9% on a certain platform, quickly attracting around $150 million in funding, but also landed on another platform on May 29, allowing users to directly lend and borrow RLUSD and use it as collateral. Currently, the annual yield for deposits of RLUSD on that platform reaches as high as 22.05%. Recently, Ripple has also collaborated with several institutions to enhance the utility and market coverage of RLUSD in the DeFi space.

In addition to payment services, Ripple is also accelerating its layout in the fields of brokerage, custody, and tokenization. On April 8 of this year, Ripple announced plans to acquire the major brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, aiming to expand its services for institutional investors. CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated, "Ripple needs to ensure that we have the right infrastructure to attract and scale to a larger group of large institutions." This transaction is primarily conducted in the form of cash, XRP, and stock.

After the acquisition is complete, Ripple will "inject billions of dollars in capital to provide instant scale and meet the needs of Hidden Road's prime brokerage business." Garlinghouse stated that the major broker will integrate the stablecoin RLUSD as collateral for its prime brokerage products and explore using the XRP Ledger to "improve settlement efficiency."

According to public reports, Hidden Road plans to establish an office in Abu Dhabi. According to insiders, the office will be led by partner James Stickland. Hidden Road has received in-principle approval from the Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Regulatory Authority, and once final approval is granted, it will be able to provide clearing and prime brokerage services to institutional investors in the UAE.

Will "Tokenization as a Service" Succeed?

A well-known cryptocurrency lawyer stated that Ripple's acquisition of Hidden Road is not just a singular expansion, but a forward-looking layout for the integration of DeFi and TradFi. He pointed out that Hidden Road handles over $3 trillion in transaction volume annually and serves more than 300 institutional clients, acting as a bridge between traditional capital and on-chain settlement.

The lawyer believes that Ripple's "Ripple Custody" custody service, together with payment and stablecoin systems, constitutes a one-stop blockchain financial service platform. Its vision is to provide "Tokenization-as-a-Service" for financial institutions such as banks, achieving a fully integrated process from asset tokenization, collateral payment to settlement circulation.

According to a forecast by the Boston Consulting Group, the digital asset custody market is expected to exceed $16 trillion by 2030. In his view, Ripple is trying to seize this dividend by building a technological layer for the tokenization of global financial assets through the XRP Ledger.

Another reason for Ripple's accelerated progress in the Middle East is its latest developments in the regulatory environment in the United States. On May 9, Ripple reached a settlement agreement with the SEC, whereby Ripple will pay a fine of $50 million and withdraw certain injunctions. The SEC will also not appeal the previous ruling, marking the formal end of this regulatory tug-of-war that has lasted since 2020.

Subsequently, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer submitted a supplementary letter to the SEC, emphasizing that XRP itself does not constitute a security, and believes that most crypto assets should not be considered securities in secondary market trading. They suggested that the SEC introduce a "safe harbor" mechanism to provide more operational compliance guidance for the digital asset market.

At the same time, the approval of the XRP spot ETF is also progressing. The SEC has formally reviewed the WisdomTree XRP Fund application submitted by a certain exchange. If it is successfully approved, Ripple may welcome another wave of inflow of funds and users.

Overall, after several years of fierce battles with the SEC, Ripple is quickly redeploying its global strategy by leveraging the regulatory-friendly frontier of the Middle East. The XRP Ledger, as its technological hub, is taking on multiple roles from payment infrastructure, stablecoin settlement to asset tokenization. If Ripple can successfully promote the "tokenization as a service" model, the Middle East may become an important testing ground for it to break free from regulatory shadows and achieve the integration of DeFi and TradFi, as well as asset on-chain.