Ripple is investing as a limited partner in an institutional credit fund built on the XRP Ledger using its stablecoin RLUSD, according to announcements from the three parties on August 20. The fund, developed by lending platform Clearpool and investment firm Cicada Partners, will offer institutional borrowers access to RLUSD-denominated credit on the XRPL.
Ripple participates on equal terms with other limited partners rather than as a guarantor or special backer. No fund size has been disclosed. The platform is currently running in Devnet testing and awaiting activation of two XRP Ledger protocol amendments, XLS-65 and XLS-66, which would enable the underlying feature set required for institutional lending on chain.
Clearpool operates a decentralized credit protocol on Ethereum and other chains, having facilitated billions in institutional lending since launch. Cicada Partners is a digital asset investment firm. Both firms have worked with traditional finance entities on real-world yield products.
The partnership marks one of the first moves to bring institutional credit infrastructure to the XRP Ledger, which has historically focused on payments and remittance use cases. RLUSD, Ripple's US-dollar stablecoin issued on the XRPL and Ethereum, launched in 2023 and has grown to over 600 million in circulation across both chains.
XRP closed the week of August 18 at its highest level since May 2018, having gained roughly 180 percent from its January lows. The week's gains followed reports of the partnership and broader institutional interest in XRPL infrastructure development.
The success of this product hinges on passage of the two protocol amendments by the XRPL validator network. Amendment voting on the ledger requires an 80 percent supermajority and typically takes several weeks once proposed. If both amendments fail to activate by year-end, Ripple, Clearpool and Cicada would need to either redesign the product for existing XRPL features or delay launch indefinitely.
