Ripple emerges from SEC shadow, relaunches global offensive, with the Middle East becoming a strategic stronghold.
After reaching a settlement with the U.S. SEC, Ripple swiftly shifted its strategic focus to the Middle East market.
Its supported public chain, $XRP Ledger (XRPL), was recently chosen as the underlying network for Dubai's first government-led real estate tokenization project, demonstrating Ripple's transition from a cross-border payment platform to a builder of RWA infrastructure.
Simultaneously, Nasdaq-listed energy company VivoPower announced a core restructuring of its crypto asset reserves strategy using $XRP, completing $121 million in financing, with Saudi Prince leading a $100 million investment. This marks the formal bet of Middle Eastern capital on the $XRP ecosystem.
Ripple has long been laying the groundwork in the Middle East. Since establishing its regional headquarters in Dubai in 2020, 20% of its clients have come from the region. In March of this year, Ripple obtained regulatory approval from DFSA, becoming the first compliant blockchain payment provider in the DIFC, and partnered with local financial institutions like Zand Bank to promote the integration of AED stablecoins with the Ripple payment system.
Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD has also rapidly entered mainstream DeFi protocols like Aave and Euler, with an annualized yield of up to 22%, and expanded its use cases through collaborations with Revolut, Chainlink, and others. Additionally, Ripple is expanding its custody, clearing, and trading capabilities through the acquisition of Hidden Road, planning to use RLUSD as a primary collateral and connect it to XRPL for faster settlement.
These actions indicate that Ripple is building a complete financial service loop around $XRP and XRPL, and is attempting to seize the future market of asset tokenization through its "Tokenization-as-a-Service" offerings to banks and other institutions.
The Middle East is becoming a key frontline for Ripple to break free from regulatory constraints and to capture the discourse on DeFi and TradFi convergence.