Cicada Partners launches RLUSD-based credit fund with Ripple
What's the deal? Ripple is backing a new institutional credit fund that will issue working-capital loans in its RLUSD stablecoin to fintech and payments companies on the XRP Ledger. It is partnering with lending platform ClearpoolDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which builds the infrastructure, and credit manager Cicada PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which sources borrowers, sets loan terms, and manages credit risk.
Ripple joins as a limited partner on the same terms as other investors, sharing rights and risks on a pari passu basis rather than guaranteeing losses. Neither the fund size nor Ripple's commitment was disclosed.
What's the endgame? Borrowers receive and repay loans in RLUSD, creating demand for Ripple's dollar-pegged token while moving lending activity onto the ledger. XRP is not lent; it only covers transaction fees and minimum account balances.
The plan aims to connect the XRP Ledger with a tokenised private credit market valued above $10 billion. Unlike much decentralised finance lending, where funds circulate inside crypto markets, the system targets real-world business borrowers.
What could go wrong? The product is not live on the main network. Clearpool is testing on a development network, and the two ledger features underpinning it — the XLS-66 lending protocol and XLS-65 single asset vaults — are still going through the network's amendment voting process. A mainnet launch depends on independent validators approving both amendments.
Cicada, acting as fund general partner and credit-pool manager, says it has underwritten more than $860 million of credit. Clearpool says it has facilitated more than $930 million of institutional loans since 2021.
RLUSD operates under New York Department of Financial Services oversight, with Bank of New York providing custody. Developers have added compliance tools for institutional use, including digital participant identities and a Clawback feature that can return funds under set rules.
The signal: The move pushes stablecoin-based private credit towards regulated, real-world lending rather than speculative crypto markets. The plans come as XRP rose almost 20% in 24 hours to $1.30 and was up 30% over seven days, part of a broad token rally.
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