Ripple’s XRP Ledger: How It’s Hijacking the $16 Trillion Cross-Border Payments Industry

Ripple just pulled back the curtain on its playbook—and it's targeting a market worth sixteen trillion dollars.

Forget the slow, expensive legacy systems. The company's strategy hinges on the XRP Ledger, a decentralized infrastructure that bypasses the traditional correspondent banking web. It's not an incremental upgrade; it's a full-scale architectural assault.

The Core Disruption: Speed and Cost

Where old-world transfers take days, the XRP Ledger settles in seconds. It cuts out the multiple intermediary banks that each take a fee, slashing the cost of moving value across borders. This isn't just about being faster; it's about making global liquidity accessible and affordable in real-time.

Building the New Rail

Ripple isn't just selling technology—it's deploying a network. Through partnerships and its suite of products, the company is onboarding financial institutions onto this new rail. The goal is to create a critical mass of participants, making the legacy $16 trillion system look increasingly obsolete by comparison.

The endgame is clear: to become the default protocol for international value movement. It's a bold bid to rewrite the rules of finance, proving sometimes the most disruptive force isn't a new asset class, but a better plumbing system. After all, what's more 'fintech' than finally fixing the part of finance that's been broken for decades—while the old guard was busy collecting fees for the privilege of waiting?

Ripple Comments On How It Is Capturing The Tokenization Industry Using XRP Ledger

In an X post, Ripple indicated that it has managed to capture some of the projected $16 trillion industry onto the XRP Ledger through the adequate security it provides institutions. The crypto firm stated that it provides a security environment that mirrors the rigor of the banks it serves, combining HSM with FIPS-certified hardware to deliver security that scales. That way, they can protect assets without sacrificing operational speed. 

Ripple further noted that legitimate integration with the global financial system requires verification. That is why they adhere to SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 standards, ensuring that the infrastructure of these institutions that tokenize on the XRP Ledger is compliant with necessary regulations.  

Commenting on this, Ripple’s Head of Information Security, Akshay Wattal, said that in crypto, security isn’t a feature but the foundation of institutional trust. He added that effective custody requires in-depth architecture, battle-tested cryptography, and the governance rigor of a global financial institution. 

Notably, Ripple provides custody solutions to global banks, including BBVA, SG Fogre, DBS Bank, and DZ Bank. However, these banks are yet to tokenize on the XRP Ledger even as institutions MOVE to tap into this $16 trillion industry. The crypto firm continues to propose several ways to onboard these institutions onto the network. 

One of Ripple’s proposals is the introduction of Confidential Multi-Purpose Tokens (MPTs) on the XRP Ledger in order to provide privacy for these institutions. The company’s developer, Ayo Akinyele, also recently proposed native XRP staking on the network, which could compel these institutions to build on XRPL, as they can earn yields while doing so. 

Progress On Other Sides Of Its Business

In addition to its custody service, Ripple is also making progress in other areas of its operations, which also drives value to the XRP Ledger. The company announced yesterday that it had partnered with fintech company RedotPay, which has integrated Ripple Payments to launch a crypto conversion feature for Nigerian users. 

The development also provides a huge boost for XRP, which will be one of the supported assets on RedotPay’s “Send Crypto, Receive NGN” feature. Ripple revealed that there are plans to support its RLSUD stablecoin in the future. Meanwhile, Bitcoinist reported that the crypto firm had scored a major win after the Monetary Authority of Singapore approved an expanded scope of payment activities for the company. This enables Ripple to broaden the range of regulated payment services it offers in the country.