Ripple unveils XRPL’s updated roadmap with plans to launch a native lending protocol

Ripple on Monday published an updated roadmap for the XRP Ledger outlining new features designed to scale institutional decentralized finance.

As part of the update, the team plans to launch a native lending protocol later this year to support compliant, low-cost on-ledger credit markets. The product is slated to go live with XRPL Version 3.0.0.

The protocol will introduce pooled lending and underwritten credit directly at the ledger level through Single-Asset Vaults and the Lending Protocol specifications.

The system will pool liquidity through vaults and issue shares that can be public or restricted, then use these vaults to support fixed-term loans with repayment schedules managed directly on-chain.

While underwriting and risk management remain off-chain, institutions can add safety with first-loss capital or structure collateralized loans through regulated custodians.

According to Ripple, the protocol is aimed at giving institutions low-cost, compliant credit markets that tap into liquidity from global investors. With XRPL’s low fees, fast settlement, and modular design, the team wants to make institutional DeFi more efficient and scalable.

“For institutions, the appeal is clear: no financial institution will turn down low-cost capital if it can be sourced within KYC/AML standards. The lending protocol enables exactly that, pooling liquidity from a global base of smaller investors into institutional-sized loans while maintaining compliance,” the roadmap states.

The roadmap also points to future integration of zero-knowledge proofs to enable privacy-preserving collateral management while maintaining regulatory compliance.

Ripple said the deployment is under development, with confidential Multi-Purpose Tokens planned for Q1 2026.

XRPL’s institutional DeFi roadmap is moving beyond token standards and compliance toward a native lending system. The next phase will integrate stablecoins, real-world assets, lending, and compliance into unified markets.

Ripple is encouraging validators to move to version 3.0.0 and urging developers to test lending and tokenization features on the devnet.

The long-term vision is for XRPL to serve as a trusted chain for institutional finance, powering stablecoin FX, collateralized lending, and tokenization with built-in compliance and privacy.