Since 2025, Ripple has made significant strides by acquiring a treasury platform for $1 billion, securing a MiCA license, launching RLUSD in Japan, and connecting Ripple Prime to Coinbase's futures market. However, during this same period, XRP has seen a decline of over 25%, briefly dipping below $1 in August.

In this article, ForkLog explores the current state of Ripple's business, where the funds are allocated, which institutions are engaging with XRPL, and why the growth in infrastructure hasn't yet translated into increased asset prices.

Major Shift of the Year

By 2026, Ripple has transformed from being primarily associated with XRP and cross-border payments to a multifaceted business encompassing prime brokerage, payment services, digital asset custody, corporate treasury, tokenization, and the stablecoin RLUSD.

In June, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the company's goal of achieving $1 billion in annual operating revenue by the end of 2026, excluding XRP sales.

Market participants, however, focus on token prices rather than operational metrics. As of September 1, XRP had lost approximately 27% since the beginning of the year, with Standard Chartered analysts downgrading their price prediction from $8 to $2.8 back in February .

Hourly XRP/USDT chart from Binance as of September 11, 2026. Source: TradingView.

The expansion of Ripple's business does not automatically lead to increased demand for XRP. A large portion of the company's new products is linked to brokerage services, corporate treasury, RLUSD, and asset tokenization. While the token remains a part of the ecosystem, it is not utilized across all these areas.

Investments: Where the Money Goes

At the start of 2026, Ripple enhanced its Ripple Treasury system GSmart with the $1 billion acquisition of treasury software provider GTreasury.

This solution enables CFOs to settle transactions in RLUSD within 3 to 5 seconds, providing 24/7 access to REPO markets and instant exchanges of shares in tokenized funds (including BlackRock BUIDL) via Securitize's infrastructure.

On September 10, Ripple updated Ripple Treasury by introducing Governed AI technology. This innovation automates treasury operations in strict accordance with the constraints and regulations set by the client.

On August 3, Ripple announced strategic investments in UK fintech firms ZILO and Licuido, which are developing infrastructure for tokenized funds and digital asset management. These deals aim to build a comprehensive institutional infrastructure on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), allowing companies to issue RWA, track them, and manage liquidity.

This investment initiative followed the launch of a tokenized liquidity fund by Aviva Investors on the XRPL, where ZILO and Licuido played a direct role. The financial terms and exact amount of shares acquired have not been disclosed.

On August 18, Ripple Prime closed a private placement of senior unsecured notes totaling $275 million. The raised funds will be used to bolster working capital and expand its multi-asset clearing, prime brokerage, and institutional financing business in the U.S. According to the press release, the debt obligations received a BBB investment grade rating from KBRA, officially classifying them as Investment Grade.

Another noteworthy development is Evernorth, a digital asset treasury company. Ripple has acted as a cornerstone investor in this project, transferring a significant amount of XRP from its reserves to Evernorth's treasury. In August, the SEC recognized the effectiveness of the S-4 registration statement for Evernorth’s merger with SPAC Armada Acquisition Corp. II, which is a document companies file with the commission before issuing securities for a merger, detailing financial metrics, the structure of the combined company, risks, and merger conditions.

Armada shareholders will vote on the deal on September 30. If approved, the combined firm plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN. Evernorth will maintain XRP on its balance sheet and manage the treasury, offering the public another regulated way to gain exposure to XRP. Unlike a spot ETF, Evernorth aims to actively manage the treasury and increase the number of XRP per share.

Business Overview: Brokerage, Payments, Treasury

On March 5, Ripple Prime integrated the entire suite of Coinbase Derivatives regulated by the CFTC, allowing institutional clients to perform clearing, financing, and risk hedging through a single regulated broker.

On August 27, Ripple Prime launched its Delta One business, offering total return swaps on U.S. stocks, indices, and digital assets. These instruments are in demand among hedge funds and family offices, as they find it legally and operationally simpler to hold derivatives than to set up custodial storage for tokens.

The payment business has expanded through partnerships. On March 31, one of the largest non-bank cross-border payment operators, Convera, joined Ripple's blockchain network. On June 11, Ripple and Bitso announced a new phase of their partnership aimed at accelerating cross-border payments in Latin America using stablecoins. On August 18, Jeonbuk became the first regional bank in South Korea to implement Ripple Payments for cross-border transfers.

Ripple's treasury segment has evolved from an M&A deal into a platform featuring its own AI module within a year. The product logic is clear: the company sells corporations not volatile digital assets, but reduced settlement times and access to the yields of tokenized instruments. The stablecoin here acts solely as a means of settlement, rather than a speculative tool.

Institutionalization: Banks and Licenses

February marked the peak month for the influx of institutional players. Deutsche Bank, Aviva Investors, and Dubai's digital bank Zand began actively implementing Ripple's solutions. On February 18, SG-FORGE, a unit of Société Générale, added XRPL to the networks where it issues the euro stablecoin EURCV, which had previously operated on Ethereum and Solana. Ripple Custody is used for deployment on XRPL.

Asia joined the expansion in the summer. On June 24, RLUSD officially launched in Japan through SBI VC Trade (a subsidiary of SBI Group) following approval from local regulator JFSA.

Ripple's global expansion and its fight for legal status are reaching a critical phase. On June 23, the company received preliminary approval, and by July 6, it secured a full crypto service provider license from the Luxembourg regulator. This granted Ripple the right to operate under a "single passport" across all EU countries.

In the U.S., one of the key regulatory issues remains the CLARITY Act, aimed at delineating the powers of the SEC and CFTC. A crucial procedural vote on the bill is scheduled in the Senate for September 15.

Despite its history with the SEC, Ripple's leadership is actively engaging with U.S. authorities. Garlinghouse expressed a positive view of the August meeting of crypto industry leaders at the White House involving Donald Trump.

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 20, 2026

According to Ripple's CEO, the goal of making the U.S. the global crypto capital is now entirely achievable.

Assets: XRP, RLUSD, and XRPL

XRP. The year has been marked by a downward trend for the token, with one sharp reversal. By May, the price had dropped to $1.34, and on August 15, XRP fell below the $1 mark.

Source: CoinGecko.

Then, within a week, XRP surged approximately 70%, reaching $1.7 by August 22. On September 1, the company executed its monthly unlocking of 1 billion XRP from escrow, following a schedule that has been in place since 2017.

Source: X.

Spot XRP ETFs continue to be a source of demand. According to SoSoValue, the net inflow into these products totaled $5.14 million as of September 10. This marks the third consecutive "green" session for the segment.

RLUSD. Over the year, the stablecoin has significantly scaled up, reaching a market capitalization of approximately $2.4 billion by early September. Key drivers include integration into Ripple Treasury, its launch in Japan, and use in Ripple Prime transactions. However, RLUSD still lags behind USDT and USDC in terms of volume. The token is issued by a trust company under the supervision of NYDFS, with reserves held in U.S. dollars and short-term Treasury bonds, and monthly attestations are published.

XRPL. In the second quarter, the average value of tokenized assets on the XRPL reached $3.72 billion. Combined with an average RLUSD balance of $539 million, the total value of these assets amounted to approximately $4.26 billion. On June 30, Ripple introduced the final specification for the XRPL Lending Protocol, a lending system operating at the protocol level without conventional smart contracts. This initiative is currently undergoing validator voting for launch on the mainnet.

Conclusion

Ripple and XRP have definitively ceased to be synonymous. Over the past two years, the company has significantly broadened its business beyond operations directly related to the token: it acquired prime broker Hidden Road and treasury platform GTreasury, ventured into payment and custody sectors, and promoted RLUSD and infrastructure for tokenized assets.

Meanwhile, XRP remains a component of the company's ecosystem and the XRP Ledger, despite not being utilized in every new product.

The gap has become particularly evident in 2026: while Ripple continued to expand its regulated financial infrastructure, XRP has remained in the red since the beginning of the year. This indicates that the fintech company's business and the dynamics of XRP should be viewed separately today.