Is BlackRock About To Go Public With Ripple And XRP? Here’s What We Know

Rumors are circulating that BlackRock has partnered with Ripple to tokenize real-world assets on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). There has been no confirmation from either party, suggesting that these rumors may not be accurate.  

In an X post, XRP influencer JackTheRippler said that there are rumors that BlackRock is about to announce a partnership with Ripple to tokenize assets on the XRPL. Other XRP influencers, such as CryptoSensei and Bale, also shared the rumor, sparking excitement among XRP community members. 

However, BlackRock and Ripple have yet to issue an official announcement about the rumored partnership, suggesting these claims may not be true. However, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink confirmed that they are building their own technology to tokenize several of their funds and expand their crypto offerings. 

The BlackRock CEO noted that tokenization can help crypto-native investors access more traditional assets. He further remarked that if they could tokenize an ETF, they could get these investors into the more traditional long-term retirement products. Notably, the asset manager already has products, such as its tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, which runs on the Ethereum network. 

It is worth mentioning that Ripple already partnered with the fund’s manager, Securitize, to enable off-ramp support for BlackRock’s BUIDL using their RLUSD stablecoin. This has so far been the closest to a partnership between Ripple and BlackRock amid rumors that the asset manager plans to tokenize assets on the XRP Ledger. 

However, Ripple has so far helped advance upgrades to the XRP Ledger, which could compel institutions like BlackRock to tokenize their funds on the XRPL. This has included the launch of the Multi-Purpose Token (MPT) standard, which is designed to simplify the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). 

While rumors of a Ripple and BlackRock partnership do not appear to be accurate, there are other recent developments that provide a bullish outlook for XRP. This includes Ripple’s expansion into the corporate treasury markets through the $1 billion acquisition of GTreasury, a provider of treasury management systems. 

As part of the deal, Ripple and GTreasury will focus on enabling customers to carry out real-time cross-border payments using Ripple’s payment solution, in which XRP serves as the bridge currency. Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, Ripple is also working to raise up to $1 billion to establish an XRP treasury company. The crypto firm plans to contribute some of its XRP holdings to set up the firm, while the proposed $1 billion is expected to be raised through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). 

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $2.35, down over 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.