Ripple Backs RLUSD Credit Fund as XRP Posts Strongest Week in Months

Ripple is backing a new institutional lending fund that will use its RLUSD stablecoin to provide credit to fintech and payments companies through the XRP Ledger, alongside Clearpool and Cicada Partners.
The fund will offer working-capital loans denominated in RLUSD, according to a release shared with CoinDesk. Cicada will identify potential borrowers, establish loan terms and oversee credit risk, while Clearpool will provide the infrastructure for creating and managing the lending pools. Ripple will participate as an investor alongside other institutional backers.
The companies have not disclosed the fund’s total size or how much capital Ripple plans to contribute.
The product is not yet operational on the XRP Ledger’s mainnet. Clearpool is currently testing the integration on a development network, while the two XRPL features required for the project — the XLS-66 lending protocol and XLS-65 single-asset vaults — are still awaiting approval through the network’s amendment voting process.
XLS-66 is designed to manage the lending process directly on the ledger, including loan issuance and repayments. XLS-65 allows funds from multiple lenders to be pooled under a manager, with Cicada expected to oversee how that capital is deployed.
Cicada said it has originated more than $860 million in credit and will serve as both the fund’s general partner and credit-pool manager. Clearpool, meanwhile, says it has facilitated more than $930 million in institutional lending since launching in 2021.
Ripple will participate as a limited partner under the same terms as other investors and will not provide a guarantee against potential losses.
Borrowers will receive RLUSD and repay their loans using the same stablecoin, potentially increasing demand for Ripple’s dollar-pegged asset while bringing institutional lending activity onto XRPL.
XRP itself will not be used as the lending asset. Instead, the token will remain necessary for paying transaction fees and meeting the XRP Ledger’s minimum account-balance requirements.
The announcement comes as XRP has posted a sharp rally, climbing nearly 20% over the past 24 hours to around $1.30 and gaining about 30% over seven days.
XRP’s advance is part of a broader crypto market rally that has lifted major digital assets since the U.S. Treasury announced Wednesday that it would double the size of its bond buyback operations.