TLDR
- Ripple backs an institutional credit fund providing RLUSD working-capital loans to fintech and payments companies.
- Clearpool is building XRP Ledger infrastructure for creating and managing institutional lending pools using RLUSD.
- Cicada Partners will source borrowers, establish loan terms and monitor credit risk throughout lending operations.
- Ripple joins as a limited partner without guaranteeing losses and invests alongside other institutional participants.
- XRPL lending remains on Devnet while XLS-65 and XLS-66 await required validator approval for mainnet.
Ripple is backing a new institutional credit fund that plans to issue RLUSD working-capital loans through the XRP Ledger, while Clearpool and Cicada Partners handle infrastructure and credit management.
Ripple Backs RLUSD Institutional Credit Fund
The planned fund will provide working-capital loans denominated in Ripple USD, or RLUSD, to fintech, payments and crypto service companies. Borrowers approved for financing will receive RLUSD and repay their loans using the same stablecoin.
Ripple will participate as a limited partner alongside other institutional investors and will invest under the same terms. The company will not provide a special backstop or guarantee investors against losses. The partners have not disclosed the fund’s planned size or Ripple’s financial commitment.
Cicada Partners will serve as the credit manager, sourcing borrowers, setting lending terms and monitoring credit conditions. The company has more than $860 million in underwriting experience and will remain responsible for assessing borrowers rather than moving those decisions onto the blockchain.
Clearpool will provide the infrastructure for creating and managing the institutional credit pools. Its lending platform has processed more than $930 million in institutional loans since launching in 2021.
RLUSD Will Serve as the Loan Asset on XRP Ledger
RLUSD will serve as the underlying credit asset rather than XRP. XRP will retain its existing network functions, including paying transaction fees and meeting minimum account reserve requirements.
The arrangement would extend RLUSD’s use beyond trading and settlement by placing the stablecoin directly into an institutional lending cycle. Capital supplied by investors would finance approved borrowers, with loan issuance and repayment handled through XRP Ledger infrastructure once the required features become available.
Clearpool plans to use the XRP Ledger’s proposed Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault architecture. Single Asset Vaults, known as XLS-65, would allow capital from several participants to be pooled under predefined rules, while XLS-66 would support fixed-term lending directly on the network.
Credit decisions would remain outside the blockchain. Cicada would assess borrowers and establish loan terms before XRPL handles the movement and accounting of funds under the planned structure.
XRPL Lending Features Still Await Mainnet Approval
The credit fund cannot yet operate through XRP Ledger’s proposed native lending functions because XLS-65 and XLS-66 remain subject to the network’s amendment approval process. Clearpool is currently developing and testing its integration on XRPL Devnet.
Activation requires the amendments to receive the necessary validator support under XRP Ledger’s governance process. Clearpool plans to demonstrate the lending process from credit-pool creation through loan repayment while voting continues.
The underlying lending code has also undergone security reviews. RippleX developers and Common Prefix conducted formal verification work covering XLS-65 and XLS-66, while Halborn later completed a re-audit of the lending protocol.
Halborn reported no critical or high-risk issues in its review. The audit identified five findings, including one medium-severity issue, two low-severity findings and two informational items. The reported findings were addressed, accepted or acknowledged following the review.
The fund’s planned launch therefore remains dependent on XRP Ledger validator approval. Until the required amendments activate on mainnet, Clearpool, Cicada and Ripple can continue testing the institutional lending structure, but the planned native RLUSD credit system cannot begin full operations.
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