Ripple CTO David Schwartz has very ambitious plans for XRP: "We will acquire financial giants, it will be like Ethereum..."

Ripple continues its acquisitions and technology investments in line with its goal of bridging traditional finance with XRP.

The company drew attention by buying the prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in the first months of the year. However, Ripple's plans are not limited to this.

Ripple's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Schwartz stated in a statement that the company is evaluating multiple buyouts. Schwartz said, "Our mergers and acquisitions team is working very hard. We have many potential buyout processes at different stages," and expressed that the activity in this area stems from Wall Street still not fully recognizing these opportunities.

Schwartz stated that the slow approach of traditional financial giants in strategic acquisitions has provided opportunities for cryptocurrency companies. He said, "We do not have to compete with large banks to acquire firms with high strategic value like Hidden Road."

Ripple had previously incorporated firms providing crypto custody services, such as Metaco and Standard Custody. The company also plans to use the new stablecoin RLUSD as collateral in Hidden Road's brokerage services.

Ripple is preparing to develop not only purchases but also the infrastructure of the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The XRPL, which aims to gain Ethereum-like "programmability", can soon be equipped with payment management systems that operate similarly to smart contracts.

Schwartz stated that while full programmability may not be possible in the near term, his goals are to "enhance flexibility while maintaining security." For example, he mentioned that contracts could be implemented to allow a user receiving payments to be paid in a digital asset of their choice instead of XRP.

Additionally, Ripple is developing a lending protocol on the XRP Ledger. This system is planned to be implemented if approved in the third quarter of 2025. Schwartz stated that this structure would bring together traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), saying, "While the selection of borrowers and legal transactions are carried out off-chain, the tokenization and distribution of repayment rights will be conducted on-chain."

Ripple made headlines in the industry with several announcements, including tokenized treasury bills in June, a decentralized exchange aimed at institutional investors (DEX), and a partnership with Wormhole that enables cross-chain asset transfers.

*It is not investment advice.

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