Ripple’s recent wave of high-profile acquisitions indicates growing strength and ambition in uniting traditional finance with cryptocurrencies.
However, concerns remain that Ripple’s reliance on funding pegged to XRP ($2.56) exposes weaknesses in the company’s long-term financial sustainability and the actual utility of its ecosystem.
Growth exceeds token utility
Ripple’s recent acquisitions, including Hidden Road and GTreasury, underscore its accelerated push into traditional finance and its effort to expand financial infrastructure to corporate markets.
However, Ripple’s growing footprint in traditional finance has revived long-standing concerns about XRP’s utility and relevance. These newly acquired services primarily target institutional clients that rely on conventional financial instruments, leaving XRP with little to no role in their core operations.
This disconnect has become a focal point of increasing scrutiny among analysts and investors, who question whether Ripple’s business expansion truly supports the long-term value of its token.
Financial Dependency Conflicts with the XRP Roadmap
Despite recent acquisitions, Ripple’s financial reality still largely depends on XRP sales and tokenomics. The company continues to hold and release large volumes of XRP.
These regular sales, managed through an escrow system, have long served as a key source of liquidity and operational financing for the company.
However, this reliance on the sale of XRP contrasts with the company’s long-promoted view of the token as a functional bridge currency rather than a financial asset.
For years, the narrative has been that XRP would become the bridge coin, settlement fuel, and utility token within XRPL and Ripple’s infrastructure. But the new data introduces a structural disconnect.
An effective example is Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin.
As of early October, RLUSD had reached a market capitalization of almost $789 million. However, BeInCrypto previously reported that around 88% of RLUSD supply is in Ethereum, not XRPL.
Many XRP holders expected the adoption of RLUSD to increase demand for the token. Transactions on the XRP Ledger require small XRP fees to be burned. However, most of RLUSD activity occurs outside of the Ledger, limiting its impact on the token’s overall utility.
This situation has created strategic tension for Ripple, which is expanding beyond the original purpose of XRP. While expected to benefit from this growth, the token plays only a limited role in new operations.
So far, this change has not resulted in increased use or burning of XRP, raising questions about its usefulness in the real world.
The debate over the relevance of XRP has now expanded to include how Ripple manages and influences the circulation of its token.
XRP buyback raises new questions
Ripple’s intervention in the XRP market has added another layer to the debate over the utility of the token.
The company recently revealed plans to raise $1 billion in XRP to establish a digital asset treasury, one of the largest fundraising efforts focused on a single cryptocurrency.
Supporters see the plan as a sign of confidence in XRP’s long-term prospects and an attempt to bring stability to the market.
However, critics argue that a company raising capital to buy its own token risks blurring the line between financial strategy and price support.
Some analysts warn that large-scale interventions could reinforce the perception that Ripple’s success still depends on XRP speculation, rather than true institutional or on-chain utility.
Ultimately, the initiative highlights the same structural challenge facing the Ripple ecosystem. While the company is rapidly expanding into traditional finance, XRP’s practical role within that growth remains limited.
Post Ripple Grows Beyond Cryptocurrencies, But Can XRP Keep Up? appeared first on BeInCrypto.
