Ripple is strategically broadening its reach and enhancing its technological capabilities through acquisitions, new product launches, and significant upgrades to the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Despite a down-trending company market, the company continues to bubble up with key announcements, specifically of tokenized treasuries and an institution-friendly decentralized exchange. Ripple’s plays to diversify and deepen its ecosystem are bold. They are creating contender investments and molding blockchain improvements to secure their place in the cryptocurrency space.

Strategic Acquisitions Fuel Growth

Ripple continues on the acquisition warpath, seeking to add more to their offerings and grow their competitive position within the space. In April, Ripple purchased Hidden Road, a liquidity-providing enabler tech provider, for $1.25 billion. Even before the deal has formally closed, this acquisition is already paying dividends with Ripple using RLUSD as collateral to tap into Hidden Road’s full suite of brokerage services.

"There's a unique opportunity right now for cryptocurrency companies to acquire companies that create strategic value, like the Hidden Road acquisition," - David Schwartz

This year, the crypto space has been abuzz with consolidation activity. Ripple is taking advantage of this opportunity to bring in new, complementary technologies and expertise. And back in January, Ripple’s spokesman said the company was actively looking for acquisitions. They’re negotiating on a handful of possible deals, several in varying stages of progress.

New Products and Partnerships Enhance Ecosystem

Ripple is quickly getting bigger, both through organic growth and buying other companies. Simultaneously, it’s building and rolling out new, exciting products while making game-changing strategic partnerships. The company has already launched their first tokenized treasuries on the XRPL, giving users access to tokenized versions of real-world assets. Ripple just announced a new decentralized exchange customized for institutions. This move signals BlackRock’s recognition of the increasing demand for decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions by institutional investors.

Ripple has partnered with Wormhole in an effort to enhance multichain interoperability. This omni-chain crypto bridge is revolutionizing the way you move assets smoothly between all the different blockchains. This collaboration significantly boosts the XRPL’s interoperability. Today, more than ever, users have the opportunity to interact with more types of digital assets and decentralized applications.

XRPL Upgrades on the Horizon

Ripple is currently looking to make further upgrades to its XRPL blockchain to make it more functional and attractive to developers. From improving programmability with EIP-2537 to adding a new lending protocol EIP-2469, these upgrades are incredible.

"I don't think you're going to see, even in the medium term, the full programmability," - David Schwartz

This additional programmability will power developers to create drastically more complex and adaptable applications on the XRPL.

"We like the fact that we have a niche where we have things like concentrated liquidity. But what we're looking at is, can we get some of the benefits of programmability without the downsides?" - David Schwartz

By adding decentralized lending and borrowing capabilities to the XRPL, the new lending protocol will add to the XRPL’s DeFi ecosystem.

"There'll be somebody offchain, who curates the set of borrowers, who sues them if they don't repay, or who handles repayment arrangements if they declare bankruptcy or whatever," - Schwartz

"And then the ledger can tokenize your interest in the repayments and handle the distribution of the repayment. Which is sort of a nice split between TradFi on the frontend and DeFi on the backend." - Schwartz

XRP has a market capitalization of $124 billion giving it the rank of the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. All these strategic moves are meant to cement its lead even deeper in the market.