Mercado Bitcoin Goes Big: $200M RWA Tokenization on XRP Ledger Signals Crypto’s Next Frontier

Brazil's crypto giant just placed a $200 million bet on real-world assets—and they're running it through the XRP Ledger. Game on.

Why this matters: Tokenization isn't new, but this scale on an enterprise blockchain? That's a flashing neon sign for institutional adoption.

The fine print: While TradFi banks still debate 'blockchain strategies,' Mercado Bitcoin is busy eating their lunch—one tokenized asset at a time. (Bonus jab: Your 0.5% APY savings account never looked so last-century.)

Mercado Bitcoin’s institutional-grade tokenization play

Mercado Bitcoin’s decision to tokenize $200 million in permissioned fixed income and equity products on the XRP Ledger is a calculated effort to position the exchange as a gateway between local financial markets and global capital networks.

By leveraging XRPL’s infrastructure, Mercado Bitcoin is bypassing the walled gardens of traditional finance, opting instead to issue real-world assets directly on a public blockchain built with institutional use in mind.

XRPL’s design for financial settlement, with near-instant finality and negligible fees, makes it a natural fit for regulated assets. But more importantly, its decade-long operational history, processing over 3.3 billion transactions without a single breach, gives institutional players the confidence to MOVE real-world value onchain.

Silvio Pegado, Ripple’s Managing Director for LATAM, put it succinctly:

“Mercado Bitcoin’s integration with the XRPL shows how public blockchain infrastructure is being trusted by institutions and is becoming a reliable foundation for bringing regulated financial products to the market,” Pegado said.

That trust isn’t theoretical. According to the press release, over 70 central banks, regulators, and financial institutions already interact with networks connected to MB’s ecosystem, signaling a quiet but seismic institutional pivot toward blockchain-based finance.

The numbers back the momentum. A 2025 Ripple and Boston Consulting Group report projects the tokenized asset market will surge from $0.6 trillion today to $19 trillion by 2033, a potential 30x increase in less than a decade, with Mercado Bitcoin likely leading the charge alongside TradFi giants pivoting to RWAs.

The platform has already tokenized over R$1 billion in private credit assets with zero defaults, earning its place among the world’s top five RWA tokenizers. Its ongoing work with Ripple, including cross-border treasury flows between Brazil and Portugal and the listing of the RLUSD stablecoin, demonstrates a deliberate shift toward blockchain-powered financial infrastructure.