Speaking at XRP Seoul on Oct. 3, Ripple President Monica Long said the company is running credit-related pilots with the goal of activating them in 2027. The plan would use XRP deposited into lending-protocol liquidity pools as collateral to help fund customers’ payment obligations.
That is notably different from XRP’s traditional role as a bridge asset, where tokens can be bought, transferred and sold again within seconds.
XRP Could Be Locked as Collateral Instead of Simply Transferred
Ripple’s payment customers sometimes require short-term financing before their own funds arrive. Long said Ripple is exploring whether that demand can be served through the XRP Ledger and lending protocols.
Under the proposed model, XRP supplied to lending pools could back credit used to finance those payments. Long said Ripple wants to connect payments, credit, XRPL and lending protocols more closely.
That could matter for XRP because collateral behaves differently from payment liquidity.
A token used briefly for settlement can return to circulation almost immediately. XRP pledged as collateral, by contrast, could remain committed for the duration of a loan. More lending activity could therefore increase the amount of XRP tied up in productive financial applications.
The idea builds on an existing XRP collateral push. RippleX product chief Jazzi Cooper previously described XRP collateral for institutional credit as a potential “killer use case,” while XRPL developers continue working on native lending infrastructure.
XRPL Is Already Building the Lending Infrastructure
Ripple’s plan is arriving as the XRP Ledger expands beyond simple payments.
The proposed XRPL Lending Protocol is designed to provide protocol-level credit infrastructure through Single Asset Vaults and lending markets. Ripple says the broader goal is to let tokenized assets become productive collateral rather than simply sit onchain.
Institutional credit is already developing around the network. Ripple, Clearpool and Cicada are building an XRPL lending market focused initially on RLUSD and institutional borrowers.
