Ripple Labs is working to expand the Decentralized Finance (DEFI) capabilities of XRP ledgers using a clear roadmap for 2025. An important part of this roadmap is to add decentralized identity-based validation, allowing a decentralized market that meets permitted exchanges and regulatory standards. It is designed to ensure that financial institutions can safely participate in decentralized spaces while ensuring compliance with regulations such as AML and KYC.
Ripple also focuses on tokenization via the XRP ledger, allowing tokenized real world assets (RWAs) to be traded on the blockchain. Multipurpose tokens (MPTs) represent a variety of financial products, such as bonds and structured assets, and are developed to provide more flexibility than traditional tokens. The platform’s goal is to bridge traditional finance and blockchain, providing a way to easily tokenize and trade assets.
A key part of Ripple’s strategy involves the development of permitted distributed exchanges (DEXs) that allow to trade tokenized RWAs. This exchange utilizes XRP Ledger’s distributed identifier to integrate compliance checks into smart contracts, ensuring that all participants meet regulatory requirements. In addition to the credit-based Defi Lending protocol, these initiatives aim to deploy XRP ledgers (XRPL) as a safe and scalable platform for institutional use in decentralized markets.
Ripple’s plans include expanding XRPL’s programmerism. The introduction of “extensions” allows developers to create customized features such as automated market makers (AMMs) and escrows without the need for a complete smart contract. Additionally, Ripple launched the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Sidechain in Q2 2025, allowing developers to use robustness to build distributed applications (DAPPs) in XRPL, which increases compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem.
The goal is to capitalize on the $30 trillion market for tokenized RWA. This could greatly increase the value of XRPL. Currently, XRPL has a total of about $80 million (TVL), which is far behind Ethereum’s $50 billion, indicating growth potential. Nevertheless, after Donald Trump’s election victory, the network’s total market capitalization exceeded $128 billion after XRP’s price rose 300%. His administration’s stance on blockchain and cryptocurrency regulations could also benefit XRPL, as Ripple hopes a more advantageous regulatory environment.
Ripple has made progress in this direction, including the success of a decentralized exchange (DEX), which saw more than $1 billion in swaps since its launch in 2024. Despite competition with other blockchain platforms, these initiatives are important for Ripple to continue growing and maintain relevance in the evolving financial environment.