XRP Ledger Payments Skyrocket 430% Since 2023 – Now Dominating DeFi & Tokenization

Ripple's blockchain just flipped the script. Two years after regulators tried to bury it, the XRP Ledger now processes more payments than some legacy banks—with a 430% surge since 2023.

DeFi's New Power Player

Once dismissed as a 'banker's crypto,' XRPL is eating Ethereum's lunch in tokenized assets. Its low-fee architecture cuts through gas wars like a hot knife through butter.

Wall Street's Ironic Savior

Meanwhile, traditional finance still can't decide if crypto is a scam or salvation. While suits debate, XRP's borderless settlements now clear faster than their beloved SWIFT network—at 1/1000th the cost. The revolution won't be televised... but it might be tokenized.

The growth is fueled by the network’s efficient design of fast finality, low transaction fees, and built-in support for real-world asset tokenization. XRPL’s built-in regulatory-friendly features make it an appealing option for enterprise use cases.

A major catalyst behind this growth has been the integration of stablecoins. Ripple’s RLUSD and Circle’s USDC have gained traction, joined by other options like EURØP, USDB, and XSGD. These additions have expanded XRPL’s ecosystem and reinforced its role in cross-border payments.

Notably, institutional players such as the European Central Bank have explored using XRP for payment flows within distributed ledger and wallet solutions.

XRPL’s rising DeFi activity

Meanwhile, XRPL is also nurturing a budding DeFi sector with a total value locked now nearing $60 million, according to DeFiLlama data.

While this is significantly dwarfed by the billions locked on rivals like Ethereum, XRPL developers argue that the network is the bedrock of innovation.

Panos Mekras, co-founder of Anodos Finance, a leading DeFi platform built on XRPL, said:

“The XRP Ledger pioneered most of the properties we now take as granted in the space. From deflationary tokenomics and burning, to DeFi features and DEXs, tokenization, payments, and more. This is the OG that started DeFi and most in the industry don’t know about it.”

Dune Analytics pointed out that the XRPL is hosting one of the longest-running decentralized exchanges, powered by a native order book rather than smart contracts.

The platform also boasts features like auto-bridging and native liquidity pools, which have kept the DEX functional.

Still, its adoption considerably lags that of its rivals. It averages around 2,300 daily traders compared to the 10,000 addresses Uniswap, the largest DEX, averaged this year.

However, that could change as momentum builds following a slew of recent updates, including an ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible sidechain, which is expected to open XRPL to Ethereum-native decentralized apps.

Moreover, other improvements, such as enhanced cross-chain capabilities, batch transactions, token escrow, and permissioned DEXs, will likely drive increased network activity and position XRPL as a key player in the evolving DeFi landscape.