Mercado Bitcoin’s $200M RWA Tokenization on XRP Ledger – Ripple’s Game-Changing Move
Latin America's crypto giant just flipped the switch on institutional DeFi. Mercado Bitcoin—Brazil's answer to Coinbase—is tokenizing a whopping $200 million in real-world assets (RWAs) on Ripple's XRP Ledger. No test runs, no baby steps—just straight into the deep end of the pool.
Why This Burns TradFi's Playbook
Forget paper contracts and notary stamps. The XRP Ledger's slicing ownership of real estate, commodities, and who-knows-what-else into digital shares. Settlement times? Faster than a Wall Street broker can say 'liquidity crisis.'
The Cynical Kickero
Meanwhile, traditional banks are still charging 2% fees to move money at the speed of dial-up. Ripple's infrastructure just turned their business model into a Blockbuster Video nostalgia piece.
Push for Tokenization Rules Gains Steam in US Market
Ripple’s announcement follows a Boston Consulting Group report forecasting the tokenized RWA sector to reach a market capitalization of $19 trillion by 2033, underscoring surging interest from both crypto-native and traditional financial players.
The deal highlights momentum across the industry as asset managers and blockchain firms ramp up efforts to secure regulatory frameworks for tokenized assets, especially in the United States.
Earlier this week, ONDO Finance, a decentralized finance protocol, acquired Oasis Pro, a regulated trading platform specializing in digital securities settlements, to deepen its footprint in the RWA market.
Meanwhile, Centrifuge, another blockchain firm focused on real-world assets, unveiled plans to tokenize the S&P 500 index, offering decentralized access to a basket of America’s top publicly listed companies.
WOW! THIS IS BULLISH FOR $XRP
Mercado Bitcoin is unlocking $200M+ of real-world assets on XRP Ledger
No hype, just regulated yield on-chain
This is LATAM’s biggest tokenization wave, and it won’t stop there
When $19T goes digital, will you still be on the sidelines? pic.twitter.com/QwGoRtTBeK
The rush into tokenized RWAs has also attracted attention from the biggest names in finance.
In January, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink publicly called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to approve tokenization of stocks and bonds, arguing it could improve market efficiency.
Last week, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins told CNBC that the “rules have not been clear” when it comes to regulating digital assets in the United States and hinted at the “imminent” boom in tokenization as a whole.
Atkins claimed that tokenization is “the next step” in order to have “much more efficiency” across markets.
Ripple Drops Cross-Appeal Against SEC to Resolve Case
Last month, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed the company will withdraw its cross-appeal against the SEC, adding that the regulator is also expected to drop its own appeal.
The announcement followed a U.S. district court decision rejecting a joint request from Ripple and the SEC to reduce Ripple’s $125 million civil penalty and overturn the ruling that classified Ripple’s institutional XRP sales as securities transactions.
In her ruling, Judge Analisa Torres noted Ripple’s readiness to “push the boundaries” of the earlier summary judgment, suggesting a risk of future violations.
Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, said the firm faced a choice between dropping the appeal or continuing to contest the finding.
He emphasized that regardless of the decision, “XRP’s legal status as not a security remains unchanged,” and assured that Ripple’s business operations WOULD continue as usual.
