Ripple Doubles Down on UAE Expansion as XRP Stumbles and SEC Shadows Loom

Ripple’s pushing into the UAE’s regulatory sandbox—because nothing says ’global adoption’ like fleeing a home country that still treats crypto like contraband.

Meanwhile, XRP holders watch their bags deflate slower than a Bitcoin maximalist’s ego after a 10% correction.

The SEC? Still lurking in the legal weeds. Because what’s a fintech revolution without some good old-fashioned bureaucratic trench warfare?

Ripple expands as a blockchain payments and infrastructure company

Meanwhile, onboarding two new clients in the UAE is only part of Ripple’s expansion efforts. The firm is positioning itself as a blockchain payments and infrastructure company, boasting over 60 regulatory licenses worldwide.

The company claims its Ripple Payments are available in over 70 payout markets worldwide, including the US, Brazil, UAE, Switzerland, Mexico, and Australia. It also recently acquired crypto brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion.

Hidden Road is licensed under the Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework for EU countries. This means the strategic acquisition could give Ripple access to the European markets once that deal is finalized.

Interestingly, pseudonymous crypto researcher SMQKE believes that Ripple has indirect access to the US Federal Reserve Master Account, which allows financial institutions to settle payments in Central Bank money.

SMQKE explained that Ripple does not have direct access because it is not a regulated depository institution. However, the firm’s partnership with Finastra, one of the major banking tech providers integrated with the FedNow Service, gives it indirect access through the Liquidity Management Tool.

He said:

“The key component here is the Liquidity Management Tool (LMT), a feature within FedNow that enables private sector instant payment services like Ripple to route transactions through tech providers such as Finastra and settle in central bank money via participating banks that do have Master Accounts.”

Despite its expansion efforts, the company is still facing some headwinds. A key one is the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the status of XRP. A settlement agreement between SEC and Ripple is yet to be finalized after Judge Analisa Torres denied a motion for an indicative ruling as being procedurally improper.

XRP is down amidst a broader market decline

While Ripple might be expanding its tentacles, XRP is down more than 3% in the last 24 hours. The drop in value appears to be due to the general market decline caused by Bitcoin soaring above $107,00 before crashing to $103,000.

Still, the XRP drop means the token has now wiped off all its gains year-to-date, even as it is still up 10.69% in the last 30 days. The token had a massively positive performance towards the close of 2024 and early 2025 but has struggled to maintain that momentum despite the positive developments in the crypto sector.

Nevertheless, it is not alone in the disappointing performance this year. All the major altcoins have also performed below expectations, with most of them currently at a double-digit percentage decline from their value at the start of 2025.

Meanwhile, XRP Futures is set to start trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) on May 19. Investors will expect that news to positively impact XRP value.

Your crypto news deserves attention - KEY Difference Wire puts you on 250+ top sites