Ripple has formed a partnership with Cross River Bank, signaling a new phase in integrating RLUSD, Ripple’s regulated stablecoin, into banking infrastructure. Cross River Bank stated that it will support RLUSD settlement on the XRP Ledger as part of its core banking operations, further advancing the asset’s adoption for cross-border transactions. This move strengthens the link between Ripple and broader payment platforms, fueling growing speculation about potential connections to Elon Musk’s X Money—a digital payments platform that leverages a sophisticated backend ecosystem.
X Money integration gains traction
Cross River Bank is a U.S.-based financial institution recognized for its technology-driven approach and close associations with payment giants, including Stripe. Digital Asset Investor, a prominent XRP analyst, pointed out that Stripe underpins X Money’s backend, implying an indirect network between XRP and X Money via Cross River Bank’s new infrastructure.
This connection has heightened anticipation in the XRP community, with many suggesting that the latest announcement could pave the way for Ripple’s technology to power instant cross-border settlements for X Money users. The possibility of Ripple’s ecosystem being integrated into Elon Musk’s digital finance ambitions has been a recurring topic among industry analysts.
Institutional insiders claimed the Cross River Bank-Ripple partnership had been forecasted through earlier institutional disclosures, lending further credibility to expectations of broader institutional adoption.
Digital Asset Investor emphasized the significance of this integration, noting that such partnerships could drive mainstream acceptance for XRP’s technology in global payments.
Ripple’s collaboration with Cross River Bank, integrating RLUSD into its core platform, is seen by market watchers as a critical step toward linking XRP with major payment networks, potentially including X Money.
Mini dictionary: X Money is a digital payments solution associated with Elon Musk and aims to provide integrated, instant financial transfers across borders. Stripe, used as its backend, is a major American fintech company powering global payments infrastructure for millions of businesses.
Supply squeeze intensifies
While the potential X Money connection draws attention, Digital Asset Investor also highlighted XRP’s tightening supply. XRP’s total supply is capped at 100 billion tokens. Ongoing token burns from transaction fees constantly reduce this figure, while rising institutional activity removes significant amounts from trading platforms.
Analysts referenced recent activity in which institutional buyers executed single transactions as large as 1 billion XRP. In a recent 24-hour window, 1.6 billion XRP was withdrawn from exchanges for custody, representing more than 1% of the asset’s supply leaving the open market in a single day. At this pace, the entire circulating XRP supply could be exhausted from public exchanges in less than 100 days.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total XRP supply | 100 billion |
| Recent single transaction size | 1 billion |
| XRP withdrawn in 24 hours | 1.6 billion |
| Current XRP price | $1.34 |
Institutional accumulation and available float
Digital Asset Investor linked increased institutional involvement—from ETFs to new collateralization use cases—to mounting pressure on available XRP liquidity. Ripple itself retains a significant reserve, a portion of which is not intended for sale. Early-stage institutions and long-term holders have steadily accumulated tokens over more than a decade, further constraining available supply.
He estimated that between 30 and 40 billion XRP are realistically accessible for active trading, while the remainder is locked by Ripple or large institutional stakeholders.
Institutional perspective and price outlook
Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty described Evernorth’s recent regulatory approval as “a badge of validation” for institutional adoption of tokenized assets like XRP. Analyst Matt Hougan suggested that, over time, hundreds of trillions of dollars in global assets—including equities, bonds, and real estate—will be migrated onto blockchain networks.
Digital Asset Investor placed XRP among the top 25 digital assets likely to form critical market infrastructure, and described a $5 to $8 price target for XRP as “ridiculously achievable in weeks, months.”
Currently, XRP remains at $1.34, with community analysts closely tracking potential price developments as supply tightens and institutional adoption accelerates.
