Ripple, Clearpool and Cicada Partner to Bring Institutional Credit to XRP Ledger

Ripple, Clearpool and Cicada Partners are working to bring institutional credit onto the XRP Ledger, combining RLUSD-based lending with credit underwriting and blockchain infrastructure built for regulated financial firms.

Clearpool Builds Institutional Credit Infrastructure on XRPL

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. Its structure allows independent credit managers to 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. Cicada will also assess borrowers, establish 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 Brings RLUSD and Capital to Lending Model

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. Meanwhile, XRP Ledger features such as Permissioned Domains, Credentials and Clawback can provide controls over participant eligibility and asset management.

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. The capital will support operations across clearing, financing and prime brokerage services.

XRPL Amendments Remain Subject to Validator Approval

Clearpool is developing and testing the lending integration on XRPL Devnet. A technical demonstration is 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, while trading volume rose 392.81% to $4.22 billion.

For institutions looking to reconcile privacy with strict regulatory oversight, the adoption of institutional ZK applications represents another key milestone in securing compliant DeFi workflows.