Ripple Accelerates Global Expansion: The Middle East Becomes a Strategic Hub, Accelerating Tokenization in the Real Economy

After reaching a settlement with U.S. regulators, Ripple is quickly restarting its global expansion plans, focusing on the Middle East as a key area for development. Dubai has become a crucial point for Ripple's efforts in the tokenization of real economy assets.

Recently, the XRP Ledger was selected as the underlying network for a blockchain tokenization project in Dubai's real estate sector, demonstrating how Ripple's advantages in government-enterprise cooperation, cross-border settlement, and stablecoin infrastructure are gradually translating into business breakthroughs.

At the same time, a Nasdaq-listed energy company announced the completion of a $121 million private placement financing, which will transform into a cryptocurrency asset reserve strategy centered around XRP. A member of the Middle Eastern royal family led the investment with $100 million, demonstrating the region's capital recognition and bet on the XRP ecosystem.

XRP Ledger becomes the first government property tokenization project public chain in Dubai

The Dubai Land Department announced a partnership with an asset tokenization platform to launch the Middle East's first government-led real estate tokenization project. This project is supported by relevant regulatory bodies in Dubai and plans to achieve on-chain issuance of real estate assets on the XRP Ledger, with a minimum investment threshold of approximately $545.

This is an important part of Dubai's "Real Estate 2033 Strategy", aiming to achieve a $16.3 billion real estate tokenization market by 2033. The partners have obtained the relevant licenses and stated that they have completed the tokenization of nearly $295 million in assets.

As a major contributor to XRPL, Ripple has been assigned the role of an asset on-chain technology provider with government support, representing the protocol's expansion from cross-border payments to asset-backed support. XRPL uses a consensus algorithm that does not require mining, enabling second-level transaction settlement.

XRPL is also actively promoting the stablecoin ecosystem on its network. Multiple institutions have announced that they will launch stablecoins pegged to the Euro and Brazilian Real on XRPL, laying a solid foundation for building a multi-asset, multi-scenario tokenization base on XRPL.

Middle East Strategy Accelerates: Obtained License and Acquired Brokerage Firm

Ripple has long valued the Middle Eastern market. As early as 2020, the company established a regional headquarters in the Dubai International Financial Center. Now, the Middle East accounts for about 20% of Ripple's global customers.

In March this year, Ripple received a regulatory license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority, becoming the first compliant blockchain payment provider in the region. In May, Ripple reached partnerships with several financial institutions in the UAE to integrate its cross-border payment system into the financial services framework, supporting round-the-clock cross-border settlements.

The stablecoin RLUSD is also enriching Ripple's business ecosystem, supporting the company's business expansion. RLUSD not only offers high yields on multiple DeFi platforms but also collaborates with several institutions to expand market coverage.

In addition to payment services, Ripple is also stepping up its efforts in the areas of brokerage, custody, and tokenization. In April this year, Ripple announced plans to acquire the major brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, aiming to expand its services for institutional investors.

After the acquisition is completed, Ripple will inject a large amount of capital to meet the needs of Hidden Road's primary brokerage business. Hidden Road plans to establish an office in Abu Dhabi and has obtained provisional approval from local regulators.

Will "Tokenization as a Service" Succeed?

Legal experts supporting Ripple believe that Ripple's acquisition of Hidden Road is a forward-looking strategy for the integration of DeFi and traditional finance. Hidden Road processes over $3 trillion in transaction volume annually and serves more than 300 institutional clients, acting as a bridge connecting traditional capital with on-chain settlement.

Ripple is trying to build a technological layer for the tokenization of global financial assets through the XRP Ledger, providing "tokenization as a service" to achieve integrated processes from asset tokenization, collateral payments to settlement circulation.

With the settlement reached with U.S. regulators, Ripple is rapidly redeploying its global strategy by leveraging the Middle East as a regulatory-friendly frontier. The XRP Ledger, as its technological hub, is playing multiple roles from payment infrastructure, stablecoin settlement to asset tokenization. If Ripple can successfully promote the "tokenization as a service" model, the Middle East may become an important testing ground for its integration of DeFi and traditional finance, as well as asset on-chain.