There are a couple of interesting events happening in the XRP ecosystem at the moment. These events have placed blockchain payment company Ripple Labs in the spotlight.

The firm’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, stated that new programmability is in the works for the XRP Ledger (XRPL). He acknowledged that the XRP community has long anticipated this update.

This programmability move is significant for Ripple as it provides a growing opportunity for the firm’s enterprise products to serve crypto-native customers. Garlinghouse sees this new development as an indication of the foundations of crypto infrastructure. These infras serve real-world use cases and are gradually becoming more robust by the day.

The Ripple boss highlighted an X post from his company confirming the new developments in its ecosystem. Significantly, the blockchain payments firm reiterated that it is,

“All in service of the goal to strengthen the foundations of crypto infrastructure to support blockchain utility and usability for institutional adoption.”

Ripple Ink Strategic Partnership With Futureverse

Ripple’s pursuit of programmability coincides with a recent partnership with Futureverse, a premier AI and metaverse technology company. The duo plans to integrate Ripple Custody to enable Futureverse to securely receive and custody its digital assets before they are minted on the self-developed Ottó blockchain.

Meanwhile, the latter provides a regulated way for users to access Decentralized Finance (DeFi) through its Ottó blockchain. Futureverse hinted at plans to ensure secure and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) compliant access. This is a huge win for the broader crypto market. In perspective, the industry is expected to soar to nearly $10 trillion in the next six years. Partnerships like this can accelerate growth.

Given such massive potential growth, secure, compliant, and institutional-grade custody solutions are needed. In the Ripple X post, Futureverse was noted to have already adopted the XRPL NFT standard.

It also uses XRP as the gas token on the Root Network and is integrated with the XRPL DEX to supply network liquidity.

Long-Term User Growth: Driving Crypto Adoption

Ripple and Futureverse have stepped into positions to showcase the strength of functional partnerships. According to Ripple’s description of the Custody product, it is capable of meeting this demand, especially with its state-of-the-art governance framework, which can safeguard a wide array of digital assets.

This caters to stablecoins and tokenized Real-world Assets (RWA) like stocks, bonds, commodities, and real estate. Ripple lauds its achievement with this latest development, citing that it facilitates seamless navigation through the evolving Web3.0 landscape for institutions, enterprises, and crypto businesses.

Markedly, the blockchain company perceives this will help address the increasing adoption and importance of digital assets.

Expectations Build For Ripple Stablecoin – RLUSD

On the other hand, Ripple is still preparing to launch its USD-backed stablecoin RLUSD.

The token, which the blockchain payments firm described as a bridge between traditional and cryptocurrency finance, is expected to debut officially before the end of 2024. When launched, it might boost the XRP price as both are projected to function complementarily.

Even with its launch pending, the stablecoin has started facing competition. It now has a rival in Japanese financial leader DMM Group, which has partnered with Progmat Inc. to debut a new stablecoin.

A lot is known about the stablecoin, but it will be utilized as a reserve currency based on DMM Group’s announcement.