Ripple is getting closer to becoming a bank-level financial institution after expanding its operations through various regulatory licenses, company acquisitions and applications for access to the Federal Reserve's payment system.
This development strengthens Ripple's position in the digital finance sector, but the main question that arises is whether it really benefits XRP token holders.
Over the past year, Ripple has received conditional approval to establish a national trust bank in the United States, applied for a special account at the Federal Reserve and obtained new licenses in Europe that allow it to offer financial services in dozens of countries.
At the same time, the company has also acquired several firms in the field of payments, prime brokerage and corporate treasury management to complete its service ecosystem.
While this development is seen as positive, most of the steps taken are actually more focused on strengthening Ripple's stablecoin, RLUSD.
The trust bank to be created will function to manage stablecoin reserves, provide digital asset custody services and support institutional transactions, rather than directly increase demand for XRP.
If Ripple succeeds in obtaining a special account at the Federal Reserve, the company will be able to store its RLUSD reserves directly at the US central bank.
This move is expected to increase institutional confidence in the stablecoin as the level of security and transparency of its reserves will be higher. However, the biggest benefit from this development is still seen in favor of RLUSD over XRP.
For XRP holders, the positive impact is only expected to be indirect.
The stronger Ripple's position as a regulated financial institution, the greater the confidence of banks and large companies to use the Ripple ecosystem.
If Ripple chooses to use XRP as a cross-border transaction settlement asset in the future, demand for the token could potentially increase.
However, for now, there is still no guarantee that XRP will be a key component of Ripple's new payment system.
In fact, RLUSD is seen as having more potential to play a role as a settlement medium because its value is more stable than volatile crypto assets like XRP.
Ripple's transformation into a bank-level financial institution is a major achievement for the company.
But for XRP investors, the real benefits will only be seen if Ripple begins to widely integrate XRP into institutional transactions, rather than continuing to rely on RLUSD as the backbone of its payment system.
