“Accounts, and the objects they own on the ledger, such as trust lines, offers or escrows, require an $XRP reserve. As the number of accounts and assets grows, so does the amount of $XRP held for this purpose,” Torteman told Bitcoin.com News, adding that $XRP also serves as a key bridge asset for liquidity across DEX routing and automated market maker pools.
Expanding on how emerging applications could generate durable demand, Torteman emphasized the ledger’s trajectory toward becoming a 24/7 compliance-grade settlement infrastructure for digital finance. As traditional finance and digital assets converge into “institutional DeFi,” she cited real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and stablecoin issuance as key drivers. The $XRP Ledger ranks among the top three chains for RWAs, and Ripple’s stablecoin, $RLUSD, surpassed $2 billion in market capitalization, with over half hosted on the XRPL.
“The next stage is credit on chain,” Torteman explained, noting that pending protocol activations like the Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vaults will enable underwritten, fixed-term credit models familiar to institutional allocators. “This is how a tokenised treasury becomes collateral, collateral becomes credit, and credit becomes structured yield, all on the same rail.”
Expanding Ecosystem via Cross-Chain Interoperability
Meanwhile, beyond native protocol expansion, cross-chain connectivity is emerging as another catalyst for ecosystem growth. Torteman highlighted the integration of the $XRP Ledger into LOBSTR, an established wallet in the Stellar ecosystem, connecting two major payment-focused networks.
With the first phase live on iOS and Android, users can manage XRPL accounts, trade tokens on the native DEX, swap $XRP across chains, and access fiat on-ramps for $RLUSD. Torteman noted that value is actively moving between the two ecosystems, laying the foundation for the second phase, which will expand DeFi integrations and asset flows.
To translate these onchain capabilities into viable commercial products, XRPL Commons is targeting practical developer execution at its upcoming New York hackathon. Organized alongside industry partners including AWS, Mastercard, Ledger, and Quicknode, the event focuses on four core tracks, namely agentic finance, lending and borrowing, native protocol development, and an open innovation track.
Addressing the challenge of turning hackathon prototypes into lasting ventures, Torteman noted that top teams will receive technical mentorship, partner introductions, and access to dedicated startup programs. She highlighted that six teams from a previous buildathon in Paris have already launched businesses and joined XRPL startup pipelines.
