Ripple, Clearpool and Cicada Partners are building institutional credit infrastructure on the XRP Ledger, pairing RLUSD-based lending with credit underwriting from Cicada. Clearpool, which has processed more than $930 million in institutional loans since 2021, will build the lending layer, while the new amendments still need validator approval before they can go live.
Ripple, Clearpool and Cicada Partners are combining RLUSD-based lending with credit underwriting to bring institutional credit onto the XRP Ledger. The plan pairs blockchain infrastructure built for regulated financial firms with dedicated credit management for the loans it carries.
Clearpool builds the lending layer
Clearpool will build the lending infrastructure using its Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault architecture. The platform has processed more than $930 million in institutional loans since 2021, and its structure lets independent credit managers create separate lending markets while setting their own risk terms.
Cicada Partners will manage the credit side of the platform, including loan origination and servicing. The firm brings more than $860 million in credit underwriting experience and will assess borrowers, set loan terms and monitor credit conditions after loans are issued. The partners are targeting real-world lending at a time when much of decentralized finance remains tied to crypto trading; they estimate about 98% of DeFi yield comes from activities such as arbitrage, basis trades, looping, points and liquidity mining.
Ripple adds RLUSD and capital
Ripple will participate as a limited partner alongside other institutional investors, without serving as a special backstop. Capital from the fund will target fintech companies, payment providers and crypto businesses that use stablecoins to meet working capital needs. RLUSD, Ripple's dollar-backed stablecoin, will serve as the underlying credit asset, while XRP Ledger features such as Permissioned Domains, Credentials and Clawback can provide controls over participant eligibility and asset management.
Beyond this partnership, Ripple has also expanded its institutional finance operations elsewhere. Ripple Prime recently closed an upsized $275 million private placement of senior unsecured notes to support its U.S. business, with the capital supporting operations across clearing, financing and prime brokerage services.
Amendments still need validator approval
Clearpool is developing and testing the lending integration on XRPL Devnet, with a technical demonstration planned to cover the full lending process, including pool creation, borrowing and repayment. However, the Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault amendments still require community approval before activation. XRPL amendments generally need support from at least 80% of trusted validators for two consecutive weeks before they can take effect.
Separately, Ripple has backed the fixCleanup3.3.0 amendment ahead of the planned xrpld 3.3.0 software release. Early voting data showed eight of 35 Unique Node List validators supporting the proposal, below the required 28 votes. XRP traded around $1.16 after gaining 15.04% over 24 hours. Trading volume, separately, rose 392.81% to $4.22 billion.
Source: CoinGape
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