Key Highlights
- Cicada Partners, Clearpool and Ripple are developing an institutional lending platform on the XRP Ledger.
- The proposed system will use XRPL’s XLS-66 Lending Protocol and XLS-65 Single Asset Vaults, with RLUSD as the lending asset.
- Clearpool will provide lending infrastructure, while Cicada will handle borrower sourcing, underwriting, and loan management.
Cicada Partners, Clearpool, and Ripple are developing a lending platform on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) that would connect institutional capital with businesses seeking stablecoin-based financing.
In an X post on Thursday, Cicada said the proposed structure would use XRPL’s Lending Protocol (XLS-66) and Single Asset Vaults (XLS-65), with RLUSD serving as the lending asset.
The project is currently being developed and tested on XRPL Devnet, so the lending system is not yet operating as a live mainnet product.
Three companies take different roles
The proposed system separates lending infrastructure, credit management, and investment.
Clearpool will provide the infrastructure for the credit pools, while Cicada Partners will handle borrower sourcing, underwriting, and loan management.
Cicada said it has underwritten more than $860 million in credit, while Clearpool said it has facilitated more than $930 million in institutional loans since 2021.
Ripple is participating as an investor in the credit fund alongside other investors. Cicada said Ripple’s investment will be made on a pari passu basis, meaning it will participate on the same terms as other investors rather than serving as a backstop for the loans.
In an X post, RippleX summarized the structure, stating, “Cicada brings credit expertise and a borrower pipeline, powered by Clearpool infrastructure built on the XRPL Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault.”
The arrangement is therefore different from a lending protocol where borrowers and lenders interact directly through a common pool. Credit assessment and borrower management would remain with designated participants.
Fintechs and payment firms targeted as borrowers
According to Cicada, the proposed borrowers include fintech companies, payment businesses and crypto service providers that use stablecoins for working-capital requirements. Loans would be denominated in RLUSD, allowing businesses to receive dollar-denominated financing on XRPL.
The companies said the lending model is intended to generate returns from interest paid by borrowers rather than from mechanisms such as liquidity mining, arbitrage or leveraged DeFi strategies.
The distinction is important because the project is aimed at business lending rather than simply creating another yield product for crypto traders.
However, details such as the size of the initial lending pool, individual borrowers, loan terms, and expected returns have not been disclosed.
XRPL lending features are not yet live
The proposed platform depends on two XRPL features that are still going through the network’s amendment process: the Lending Protocol (XLS-66) and Single Asset Vaults (XLS-65).
Cicada said development is currently taking place on XRPL Devnet. A technical demonstration is expected to show the proposed process from creating a lending pool through loan issuance and repayment.
The lending system will therefore require the underlying XRPL features to be activated on mainnet before it can operate as described.
RLUSD forms the lending layer
RLUSD is intended to serve as the primary asset used for the proposed credit markets.
Cicada said RLUSD is regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and that its reserves are custodied by BNY. The proposed lending infrastructure would also use XRPL features including Credentials, Permissioned Domains, and Clawback.
These tools are designed to provide additional controls around who can participate in specific applications and how assets can be managed.
For institutional lending, that distinction could be relevant because borrowers and lenders may need to meet specific eligibility and compliance requirements rather than interact anonymously.
SOL recently added to XRPL
The lending initiative follows another recent change to the assets available on XRPL.
Earlier this month, SOL was brought to the XRP Ledger through Axelar, allowing users to trade the asset through the XRPL decentralized exchange and platforms including XPMarket, First Ledger and Magnetic.
Users can also bridge SOL into the XRPL ecosystem through Axelar.
The development expanded the range of assets accessible through XRPL, while the latest lending project focuses on adding another financial use case to the network.
XRPL pushes beyond payments
The proposed lending platform comes as XRPL’s ecosystem expands beyond its traditional focus on payments and settlement. The network has added infrastructure for stablecoins, tokenized assets, lending and other financial applications.
The Cicada, Clearpool and Ripple initiative remains at an early stage, however. The lending features required for the system are still going through the amendment process, and the platform itself is being tested on Devnet.
If the underlying amendments are activated and the project moves to mainnet, it would give businesses a way to access RLUSD-denominated credit through XRPL while allowing institutional investors to participate in curated lending pools.
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