Ripple Brings LME Expertise In-House

Ripple has hired Joseph Thompson, senior vice president and head of treasury at the London Metal Exchange (LME), to join its Trading and Markets team. He will officially depart the LME on August 31, 2026.

The appointment brings experience from one of the world's largest commodities marketplaces into Ripple's growing institutional financial infrastructure business. Thompson will focus on expanding Ripple's strategy around tokenized real-world assets.

Ripple is broadening its scope and targeting areas including custody, prime brokerage, trading, tokenization, and market infrastructure. The XRP Ledger (XRPL) provides the blockchain infrastructure layer for issuing and transferring tokenized assets and financial applications.