Ripple and SBI Target Billion-Dollar Yield in XRP DeFi Shift

SBI Ripple Asia executed a memorandum of understanding with Doppler Finance to investigate XRP-based yield mechanisms and real-world asset tokenization on the XRP Ledger, as declared by the firms on Dec. 17.

Pursuant to details conveyed, the firms specified they will examine collaboration on yield mechanisms for XRP, which possesses no native staking, and RWA tokenization flows on the XRPL.

The companies designated this arrangement as SBI Ripple Asia’s initial collaboration with an XRPL-native protocol.

They also named SBI Digital Markets as the institutional custodian responsible for isolated safekeeping.

Building Regulated XRP Yield Infrastructure for Institutions

Pursuant to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Financial Institutions Directory, SBI Digital Markets Pte. Ltd. functions as a Capital Markets Services Licensee that encompasses custodial services and transactions in capital market products.

It is additionally designated as an Exempt Financial Adviser, which buttresses the custody-and-compliance perspective.

The structure indicates a broader effort to render XRP “productive” by funneling it into yield sources while retaining assets in a regulated custody envelope.

In practice, that diverts the product conversation away from on-chain staking methods and focuses attention on balance-sheet-friendly channels: custody segregation, eligibility controls, disclosures, and the generation and reporting of the return stream.

Rox Park, Doppler Head of Institutions, confirmed that the firms intend to investigate yield and tokenization mechanisms on XRPL.

An SBI Ripple Asia spokesperson characterized the work as broadening institutional access to on-chain products through a compliance-aligned framework.

The immediate market setting is that XRPL’s DeFi presence persists as minimal compared to Ethereum-style platforms, even as stablecoin and tokenization activity have gathered momentum.

XRPL’s DeFi Push: Institutions, Early Momentum, and Market Constraints

Pursuant to DefiLlama’s XRPL dashboard at the time of data collection, XRPL featured $64.4 million in total value locked (TVL) and $347 million in stablecoin market cap, representing a 13% increase over the past seven days.

RLUSD constituted 78.90% of XRPL stablecoins, with DEX volume standing at $5.7 million over 24 hours and $35.8 million across seven days.

RWA.xyz’s XRPL page enumerated $212 million in distributed asset value, $239 million in represented asset value, 50 RWAs, and $327 million in stablecoin market cap, which had escalated 38% over 30 days.

It also displayed $564 million in stablecoin transfer aggregate over 30 days.

Pertaining to RWA.xyz’s global view, distributed asset value amounted to $18.74 billion, and total stablecoin value totalled $300.18 billion.

Ethereum alone exhibited more than $12 billion in total RWA value and $171 billion in stablecoin market cap, a discrepancy in magnitude that illustrates why a custody-led institutional inroad is crucial for XRPL’s growth path.

Since XRP lacks inherent staking, any “XRP yield” envelope ultimately relies upon external return streams and the governance pertaining to them.

The protocol has articulated plans to broaden CeDeFi-style strategies and investigate options-based sources concurrently with other approaches.

How XRP Can Generate Yield Without Native Staking

A second avenue entails tokenized cash-equivalent yield, where XRP exposure is capable of being paired with or swapped into tokenized T-bills or money-market funds.

This is an area Ripple has consistently cultivated on XRPL through partners, specifically tokenized treasury products that can issue and liquidate using RLUSD.

A third path comprises credit primitives on XRPL itself, if and when they develop, encompassing the proposed XRPL-native lending primitive (XLS-66d) currently being debated in the XRPL Standards process on GitHub.

If the SBI Ripple Asia and Doppler work transitions from exploration to a product, the adoption metrics can rapidly ascend relative to existing XRPL baselines.

Circulating supply hovers around 60.49 billion XRP, and the spot price approaches $1.91.

For firms that can bundle these flows with custody, compliance, and reporting, the commercial stimulus appears more like fee revenue than token beta.

Employing a range model instead of asserting pricing, a 50–150 basis point all-in framework on $1.14 billion AUM suggests roughly $5.7 million to $17.1 million in annual revenue.

That is why regulated custody constitutes a fundamental element in the announcement, not a minor point.

The product’s distribution channel and the control plane are what stipulate which investors can utilize it and under what disclosure regime they operate.

Regulated Custody, Tokenization, and the Business Case for XRP’s Next Phase

The timing also coincides with tokenization forecasts and payments demand which transcend XRPL-specific parameters but nonetheless mold the addressable market.

Pursuant to a 2022 Ripple and BCG tokenization report (disseminated via ADDX materials), tokenized RWA projections reach $9.4 trillion by 2030 and $18.9 trillion by 2033, accompanied by a cited 53% CAGR assumption.

McKinsey has independently contended that tokenization in financial services is progressing from pilot to scale.

Regarding the payments side, Artemis’ Stablecoin Update for October 2025 chronicled stablecoin payments climbing from $6.0 billion in February to $10.2 billion in August, a 70% surge.

Experts calculate that more than $136 billion has been transacted since 2023, a scenario that clarifies why tokenized cash, settlement stablecoins, and yield-bearing cash equivalents are merging into a single product category.

Regulatory Pushback Still Shapes the Landscape

In alignment with Reuters reporting on IOSCO’s tokenization work, the securities watchdog has cautioned that tokenization can introduce new perils or amplify existing ones, encompassing concerns about market integrity and investor protection, even where efficiency gains are present.

Those concerns correspond precisely to how an institutional XRP yield wrapper would be assessed.

These encompass what token holders legally possess, how redemption and settlement function when the underlying asset is off-chain, whether strategy returns can be subjected to audit, and how liquidity mismatches are managed when on-chain transfers can be instant but off-chain servicing windows are delayed.

If yield sources incorporate derivatives or basis strategies, the principal issue transforms into transparency into positions, counterparties, risk limits, and liquidation waterfalls.

It also addresses whether custody segregation is augmented with reporting that satisfies institutional controls.

XRPL’s concurrent roadmap furnishes tools that correspond more effectively with the “permissioning and controls” thesis than with the “farm APY” model.

XRPL.org documents detail Multi-Purpose Tokens, which incorporate metadata and transfer control features specifically intended for tokenization.

It also delineates Deep Freeze, which extends issuer-level controls to prohibit frozen holders.

The roadmap also features Credentials for on-ledger attestations that can substantiate permissioned flows.

Those primitives hold relevance if SBI Ripple Asia and Doppler intend to construct yield and RWA rails that can be employed by institutions which mandate eligibility checks, transfer restrictions, and defined issuer powers under legal agreements.

For now, the announcement obligates the parties to exploration under an MOU and designates SBI Digital Markets as the custody and compliance anchor.

That shifts the next milestones to product design: the eligible investor scope, the yield source mix, disclosure and attestations, token form factor, redemption mechanics, and how on-ledger controls are utilized in production rather than merely detailed in documentation.