XRPL aims for "Institutional DeFi": A new driver for XRP price?

2026-02-01 02:35:06

Abstract generation in progress

Key pillars in the XRPL ecosystem, supported by Ripple, are pushing to optimize this blockchain to pave the way for institutional DeFi strategies, while deploying capital flows similar to “yield vaults” on Ethereum.

In a recent statement, Evernoth – one of the leading XRP fund management firms – announced that it will consider the upcoming “XRP Lending Protocol” as a strategic pillar in its digital asset portfolio.

“We believe this lending protocol could create a fundamental breakthrough in how liquidity from institutions moves and operates on-chain,” Evernoth emphasized.

According to Asheesh Birla, CEO of Evernoth, this initiative will continue to drive strong momentum for DeFi on XRP. “By participating in the native lending ecosystem, Evernoth hopes to help unlock annual yield opportunities worth billions of USD for the XRP community,” he said.

For Evernoth, the lending protocol is seen as the “missing piece” to complete DeFi on XRP. This upgrade, also known as XLS-66, is currently being deployed on the testnet, aiming to enable vaults with a single asset to operate loans with fixed interest rates.

The current state of DeFi on XRPL

Although the DeFi ecosystem on XRPL has made certain progress since 2025, this blockchain still struggles to catch up with competitors in the top 10 largest market cap assets.

At the time of writing, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi on XRPL has sharply declined from approximately $100 million to just $60 million.

Source: DeFiLlama In contrast, direct competitors like BNB Chain and Solana are far ahead of XRPL with TVLs of $6.5 billion and $9.3 billion respectively — reflecting superior liquidity depth and higher investor confidence.

Although XRPL has established notable partnerships with major organizations such as Gumi and SBI of Japan, DeFi activity on this network still falls short of expectations. The market is currently awaiting whether the upcoming lending protocol upgrade will be enough to help XRPL narrow the gap with its rivals.

Nevertheless, a bright spot is Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD, which is among the fastest-growing in the market and recently surpassed $1 billion in supply.

XRP0,3%

ETH-3,56%

BNB-0,36%

SOL-1,3%

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