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Why can Ripple continue to gain support from financial institutions and maintain a high market value amid controversy?
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Decentralization is regarded as the core creed of the crypto world, but the story of the old public chain Ripple is full of drama and contrast. Since its inception, Ripple has been controversial for its highly centralized token distribution model and has been criticized for deviating from the spirit of crypto. Even its founder admitted that the company makes a living by selling coins. At the same time, this crypto project with a market value of $100 billion has been accused of lackluster technological innovation and mediocre revenue performance. Forbes has mercilessly labeled Ripple a zombie company. Despite this, the market and reality tell a different story. Ripple has won the favor of financial institutions, and its market value often explodes, even enough to compete with traditional giants. Recently, multiple factors such as the rising expectations of ETFs, the support of US political forces, the promotion of payment business, and the vigorous layout of stablecoins have once again pushed Ripple into the spotlight.
Ripple continues to promote business expansion this year. As we all know, cross-border payment and remittance is Ripple's core business. This year, it continues to extend its reach around the world. For example, Ripple expands its business in Africa through cooperation with Chipper Cash, Ripple joins hands with Unicâmbio, the oldest currency exchange institution in Portugal, to promote instant payments between Brazil and Portugal, and SBI Shinsei Bank adopts Ripple's DLT for international remittances.
In order to ensure the continued legal and compliant operation of its business, Ripple has vigorously promoted the application of global licenses. As of April 2025, Ripple has obtained more than 55 remittance licenses worldwide, covering 33 states in the United States and Dubai. In recent months alone, Ripple has successively won remittance licenses in New York and Texas, and became the first blockchain payment provider to obtain a payment license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority, allowing it to provide regulated cryptocurrency payment services in the UAE.
Ripple is also expanding its crypto custody and wallet business. In mid-March this year, Ripple Labs submitted a trademark application for Ripple Custody. According to the application documents, the trademark covers financial services, including the storage and management of crypto assets to meet financial management needs. This trademark application follows Ripple's launch of custody services in October 2024, which may indicate that the company is seeking to expand its revenue sources beyond payment settlement. The trademark application also mentions downloadable cryptocurrency, fiat currency, virtual currency and digital currency custody, transmission and storage software, which may mean that Ripple is considering launching an official crypto wallet. If the product is launched, it can create new revenue growth points through transaction fees.
Ripple announced that it has acquired the cryptocurrency-friendly prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, one of the largest acquisitions in the cryptocurrency industry to date. As a prime brokerage and credit network, Hidden Road has more than 300 institutional clients, clearing more than $10 billion through traditional payment channels and processing more than 50 million transactions. After the acquisition, Hidden Road will integrate RLUSD as collateral for its prime brokerage products, while migrating its post-trading activities to the XRPLedger blockchain. This will not only bring more liquidity and application scenarios to RLUSD, but also help Ripple further develop its real-world asset track.
