Ripple’s XRP Is Unlocking the Trillion-Dollar Tokenization Market—Here’s How

Forget dusty paper certificates and sluggish settlement times. A trillion-dollar wave of real-world assets is crashing onto the blockchain, and Ripple's XRP is positioned at the center of the surge.

The Bridge That Wall Street Didn't Build

Traditional finance moves money like molasses in January. Cross-border payments can take days, with layers of intermediaries each taking their cut. XRP cuts through that friction. Its ledger settles transactions in seconds for a fraction of a cent, providing the foundational speed and cost-efficiency that tokenizing everything from real estate to corporate debt demands. It's the missing rail between legacy value and digital ownership.

More Than a Cryptocurrency—A Compliance-Friendly Utility

While purists debate decentralization, institutions demand regulatory clarity. Ripple's ongoing engagement with global regulators—despite the SEC's theater—has forged a path for enterprise adoption. This isn't a shadowy DeFi protocol; it's a liquidity solution that banks and payment providers are already using. That existing network is the on-ramp for tokenized assets seeking instant, verifiable settlement across borders.

Fueling the New Asset Pipeline

Tokenization isn't just about creating a digital twin. It's about making illiquid assets tradable 24/7. XRP acts as the neutral bridge currency in this new system. Imagine a tokenized share of a Tokyo skyscraper being sold to a fund in London. Instead of navigating a maze of currency conversions and correspondent banks, the transaction could use XRP as the instant settlement layer, slashing costs and counterparty risk. It bypasses the old plumbing entirely.

The trillion-dollar figure isn't fantasy—it's the logical endpoint of efficiency. While traditional finance firms are busy forming committees to study the blockchain, Ripple and XRP are already building the exit ramp off their slow, expensive highway. The future of assets isn't held in a vault; it's transmitted, and XRP is becoming the transmission fluid. After all, what's more cynical than finance finally modernizing only because it found a cheaper way to move money?

Ripple XRP’s Role In Enabling Tokenization On The XRPL

In an X post, Pumpius stated that XRP handles cross-border liquidity and DEEP global routing while Ripple’s RLUSD supports domestic flows, tokenized assets, and institutional balance sheets. This came as he noted that pairing XRP with RLUSD creates a two-asset settlement engine in the push for tokenization on the XRPL. 

The crypto pundit further stated that both XRP and Ripple’s RLUSD unlock instant settlement for tokenized assets, atomic swaps, capital-efficient markets, and unified liquidity across the entire XRPL ecosystem. He asserted that without instant, programmable, and compliant settlement, tokenized assets are nothing more than digital placeholders. 

Pumpius remarked that this is where Ripple’s RLUSD becomes transformative. He explained that the stablecoin is the operational backbone for real-world assets on the XRP Ledger. The crypto pundit added that it is the first dollar that settles at XRPL speed with institutional-grade transparency and regulatory alignment.  

In line with this, Pumpius reiterated that tokenization is useless without settlement. While RLUSD fixes the settlement problem, he stated that XRP amplifies it and that the emerging ZK LAYER will protect it. Regarding the ZK layer, the pundit stated that as private ZK infrastructure begins to anchor the XRPL identity, privacy and compliance layers will slot into this model, making settlement fast, verifiable, and shielded when needed. 

He declared that settlement, privacy, and compliant identity are the final form institutions have been waiting for before they begin tokenizing on the XRP Ledger. Notably, Ripple has already included introducing privacy features on the network into its roadmap. 

Ripple CTO Defends XRP And XRPL

In an X post, Ripple CTO David Schwartz defended XRP and the XRPL after the altcoin was described as being “extremely centralized” because it is permissioned. Schwartz rebutted the statement that it was permissioned, noting that no one needs, or could have, any special permission to issue or execute XRPL transactions.

He further stated that XRP is unpermissioned for the same reason Bitcoin is. He added that if anyone were to exercise control over the network in a way that is perceived as unfair, everyone else would change whatever was needed to regain fairness. The Ripple CTO also mentioned that, over more than a decade, no XRP transaction has been censored. At the same time, he claimed that Bitcoin miners routinely delay transactions they disfavor for any reason. 

At the time of writing, the xrp price is trading at around $2.05, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.