Ripple has joined forces with Clearpool and Cicada Partners to bring real-world credit to the XRP Ledger (XRPL), according to an Aug. 20 statement.

The companies aim to create an onchain lending model for institutional investors, combining Clearpool’s lending infrastructure, Cicada’s credit underwriting, and Ripple’s investment capital.

The effort comes as the partners argue that most DeFi yield is still generated by crypto market activity rather than productive lending. They estimate that roughly 98% of yield comes from mechanisms including looping, arbitrage, basis trades, points and liquidity mining. That has left institutional allocators without a clear path into onchain credit, even as stablecoin activity and tokenized private credit continue to grow. The announcement also positions the partners against established onchain credit protocols such as Maple Finance, Goldfinch and Centrifuge, which have courted institutional lenders on other networks for years, while tokenized private credit ranks among the largest real-world asset categories now tracked on public blockchains.

1/5 We’re excited to announce a new collaboration with @Ripple, @cicadacredit and @ClearpoolFin to bring institutional-grade credit to XRPL. Together, we’re combining Clearpool’s lending infrastructure with Cicada Partners’ credit expertise and borrower pipeline to support…

— Cicada Partners (@cicadacredit) August 20, 2026

As the initiative’s infrastructure provider, Clearpool — which currently operates its lending markets on multiple EVM-compatible chains — will build an institutional credit layer on XRPL through its native Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault architecture. The platform has facilitated more than $930 million in institutional loans since 2021, and its curator-driven structure will allow independent risk managers to operate separate credit markets while maintaining defined risk parameters.

Cicada Partners, which brings more than $860 million in credit underwriting experience, will originate and service loans, set borrower covenants and monitor credit health.

Ripple will participate as an LP in the credit fund alongside other institutional investors, with no special backstop role. The capital will be directed to businesses including fintechs, payment companies and crypto service providers that use stablecoins to address their working capital requirements.

Ripple’s flagship stablecoin, RLUSD — a US dollar-pegged token the company launched in December 2024 — will be the underlying credit asset, extending its role beyond payments and settlement into onchain lending, while XRPL provides native lending, vault and compliance functionality. Permissioned Domains, Credentials and Clawback features allow institutions to impose eligibility and asset controls, while the protocol itself does not impose fixed application-level fees.

Clearpool is developing and testing the integration on XRPL Devnet, with a technical demo planned to show the lending process from pool creation through repayment. The Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault amendments are currently undergoing community voting; under XRPL’s amendment process, protocol changes activate only after sustained supermajority support from validators, making the vote outcome and the planned demo the immediate milestones that determine when the credit rails can move beyond Devnet.

Source: CryptoNewsNet