Ripple's Blockchain Taps Institutional Lending with Clearpool and Cicada Partners
A new partnership between Ripple, Cicada Partners, and Clearpool aims to deploy institutional lending on XRPL (Ripple's blockchain), tackling a major problem in decentralized finance: most available DeFi yields come from circular mechanisms without real economic backing.
The initiative leverages the Lending Protocol (XLS-66) and Single Asset Vaults (XLS-65), which are natively integrated into XRPL, eliminating the need for smart contracts or third-party dependencies. This reduces risk and makes it more attractive to institutional capital.
The credit asset is RLUSD, Ripple's stablecoin regulated by the NYDFS and custodied by BNY. Borrowers use it for payments, creating a virtuous cycle where every loan denominated in RLUSD incentivizes its adoption as a settlement currency over alternatives on other chains.
Clearpool provides the credit infrastructure, while Cicada Partners operates as fund manager and credit pool administrator. Ripple participates as an equity investor, alongside other institutional co-investors. The regulatory compliance infrastructure is also native, ensuring only verified accounts can access enabled vaults.