Ripple Steps Out of SEC's Shadow: The Middle East Becomes a Strategic Hub, Public Company Promotes XRP Reserves to Attract Investment from Saudi Princes

Written by: Weilin, PANews

While reaching a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ripple is rapidly resuming its global expansion efforts in the Middle East, with Dubai becoming a key location for its tokenization of real-world assets (RWA).

Recently, the XRP Ledger, supported by Ripple, has been selected as the underlying blockchain network for the Dubai real estate blockchain tokenization project, demonstrating that Ripple and XRP's development in government-enterprise cooperation, cross-border settlement, and stablecoin infrastructure is gradually transforming into a business breakthrough direction for the company.

Meanwhile, on May 29, Nasdaq-listed energy company VivoPower International announced the completion of a $121 million private placement financing, which will transform into a strategy centered on XRP as its core crypto asset reserve. Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Abdulaziz Al Saud led the investment with $100 million, demonstrating the recognition and bet of Middle Eastern capital on the XRP ecosystem.

XRP Ledger becomes Dubai's first government property tokenization project's public chain.

On May 26, the Dubai Land Department (DLD) announced a partnership with the asset tokenization platform Ctrl Alt to launch the Middle East's first government-led real estate tokenization project, PRYPCO. The project is jointly supported by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and the Dubai Future Foundation, and it aims to achieve on-chain issuance of real estate assets on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) through the PRYPCO Mint platform under Ctrl Alt, with a minimum investment threshold of 2000 Dirhams (approximately 545 USD).

This project is an important part of Dubai's "Real Estate 2033 Strategy," aiming to achieve a real estate tokenization market of 60 billion dirhams (approximately 16.3 billion USD) by 2033. Ctrl Alt has obtained a broker and issuer license issued by VARA and has stated that it has completed the tokenization of nearly $295 million in assets.

As a major contributor and promoter of XRPL, Ripple has been assigned the role of a technology provider for asset tokenization under government support, indicating that the protocol has expanded from cross-border payments to RWA asset backing. XRPL employs the Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA), which does not require mining and eliminates the energy-intensive mining process, enabling transaction settlements in seconds.

XRPL is actively promoting the stablecoin ecosystem on its network. SG-FORGE has announced that it will launch the euro-pegged EURCV on XRPL in 2025; Braza Group will also launch the stablecoin BBRL pegged to the Brazilian real on XRPL. These developments lay a solid foundation for building a multi-asset, multi-scenario tokenization infrastructure on XRPL.

At the same time, XRP has also gained the favor of Middle Eastern capital. On May 29, VivoPower International(VVPR), a NASDAQ-listed energy company, announced the completion of a $121 million private placement that will transform into a crypto asset reserve strategy with XRP at its core. Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Abdulaziz Al Saud led a $100 million round with former SBI Ripple Asia executive Adam Traidman serving as chairman of the advisory board. According to SEC filings, the company intends to issue 20 million shares of common stock at $6.05 per share.

Middle East strategy accelerates: Obtained a license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority, acquired brokerage firm Hidden Road.

It's no coincidence that Ripple attaches great importance to the Middle East market. Back in November 2020, Ripple set up its regional headquarters in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a move the company said was a possible exit from the U.S. due to the lack of clarity over U.S. crypto regulatory policies. In December of the same year, the SEC first charged Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen with conducting an unregistered securities offering through the sale of Ripple's digital token, XRP, beginning in 2013. The SEC said Ripple raised $1.3 billion through these alleged securities sales, and Ripple said XRP was not a security. After several years of evolution and development, today, the Middle East accounts for about 20% of Ripple's global customers.

In March of this year, Ripple received a regulatory license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), becoming the first compliant blockchain payment provider in the DIFC and officially launching compliant crypto cross-border payment services in the UAE. In May, Ripple announced a partnership with UAE digital bank Zand Bank and fintech company Mamo to integrate Ripple's cross-border payment system into their financial services framework, supporting around-the-clock cross-border settlement. Zand Bank also plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to AED to enhance local digital payment capabilities.

The stablecoin RLUSD is also enriching Ripple's business ecosystem and supporting the company's business expansion. Not only did RLUSD offer an annualized yield (APR) of up to 8%-9% on Aave, which quickly attracted about $150 million in funding, but it also landed on Euler Finance on May 29, allowing users to directly lend, borrow, and use RLUSD as collateral on the platform. Currently, RLUSD's Annualized Yield on Euler deposits (Supply APY) is as high as 22.05%. As previously reported by PANews, Ripple has also recently partnered with Chainlink to increase the utility of RLUSD in the DeFi space. Ripple has also partnered with Revolut and Zero Hash to expand RLUSD's market reach. RLUSD is also integrated into its payment solution, Ripple Payments, for cross-border payment processes for customers such as BKK Forex and iSend.

In addition to the payment business, Ripple is also stepping up its layout in the fields of brokerage, custody and tokenization. On April 8 of this year, crypto payments company Ripple announced plans to acquire prime brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, with the aim of expanding its services to institutional investors. CEO Brad Garlinghouse said, "Ripple needs to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to attract and scale to a larger, larger community." The transaction is primarily in the form of cash, XRP and shares. Subject to regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to close in the coming months.

After the acquisition is completed, Ripple will "inject billions of dollars in capital to provide instant scale and meet the needs of Hidden Road's prime brokerage business." Garlinghouse stated that the major broker will integrate the stablecoin RLUSD as collateral for its primary brokerage products and explore using the XRP Ledger to "enhance settlement efficiency."

According to public reports, Hidden Road plans to set up an office in Abu Dhabi. According to informed sources, the office will be led by partner James Stickland. Hidden Road has obtained in-principle approval (IPA) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market, and once final approval is granted, it will provide clearing and prime brokerage services to institutional investors in the UAE.

According to sources, after obtaining final regulatory approval, members of the Abu Dhabi royal family may join the board of its local entity at Hidden Road.

Can "Tokenization as a Service" succeed? Ripple regains the development time lost to SEC's "hard control".

John Deaton, a crypto lawyer supporting Ripple, stated that Ripple's acquisition of Hidden Road is not just a singular expansion, but a forward-looking layout for the integration of DeFi and TradFi. He pointed out that Hidden Road handles over $30 trillion in transaction volume annually and serves more than 300 institutional clients, acting as a bridge between traditional capital and on-chain settlement.

Deaton believes that Ripple's "Ripple Custody" custody service, along with payment and stablecoin systems, constitutes a one-stop blockchain financial service platform. Its vision is to provide financial institutions such as banks with "Tokenization-as-a-Service," achieving full-process integration from asset tokenization, collateral payments to settlement circulation.

According to a forecast by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the digital asset custody market is expected to exceed $16 trillion by 2030. In his view, Ripple is trying to seize this opportunity by building the technological layer for the tokenization of global financial assets through the XRP Ledger.

Another reason for Ripple's accelerated progress in the Middle East is its latest developments in the regulatory environment in the United States. On May 9, Ripple reached a settlement agreement with the SEC, agreeing to pay a $50 million fine and lift some of the injunctions. The SEC will also not appeal the previous ruling, marking the official end of this regulatory tug-of-war that has continued since 2020.

On May 28, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty submitted a supplemental letter to the SEC, emphasizing that XRP itself does not constitute a security and asserting that most crypto assets should not be regarded as securities in secondary market trading. He suggested that the SEC introduce a "safe harbor" mechanism to provide more operational compliance guidance for the digital asset market.

At the same time, the approval of the XRP spot ETF is also progressing. On May 28, it was reported that the SEC has officially reviewed the application for the WisdomTree XRP Fund submitted by the Cboe BZX exchange. If approved smoothly, Ripple may see another influx of funds and users.

Overall, after several years of battling with the SEC, Ripple is quickly redeploying its global strategy by leveraging the Middle East, a regulatory-friendly frontier. The XRP Ledger, as the technological hub, is taking on multiple roles from payment infrastructure, stablecoin clearing to asset tokenization. If Ripple can successfully promote the "tokenization as a service" model, the Middle East could become an important testing ground for it to escape regulatory shadows and achieve the integration of DeFi and TradFi, as well as asset on-chain.