Instead, Ripple spent the next four years in court and about $150 million on lawyers. Its US business stalled for about five years, as the SEC also targeted Brad over XRP he sold. Regulators offered to drop his case for a fine while continuing against Ripple, but Garlinghouse refused. He noted that XRP transactions usually settle in about four seconds and cost a fraction of one cent. Ripple sells software to banks and financial institutions, not individual users. Garlinghouse also compared XRP with Bitcoin, noting that one BTC transaction can cost around $10 and take about 10 minutes.

Ripple CEO rips into Gary Gensler-led SEC

In the interview, the Ripple CEO also mentioned that XRP serves another purpose. It handles payments faster, charges less, and supports more activity. Ripple uses the open-source XRP Ledger in its products. Asked why the SEC (specifically under Gary Gensler and Joe Biden) was angry, he joked, “They’re jerks.” He said the issue was applying old financial laws to new technology. Garlinghouse entered the internet industry in 1994, pointing to rules passed in 1996, with help from Al Gore.

He mentioned that the rules gave internet companies and investors clearer legal boundaries. According to Brad, the crypto companies had been asking for similar laws since most members of the industry were ready to comply but required clear limits. The SEC insisted that XRP was a security and not a currency or commodity. Brad noted that a security tends to give its holder rights within the business entity. XRP buyers received no Ripple shares, votes, board powers, or dividends. Ripple remains private. It raised venture capital in 2012, 2015, and 2016 by selling actual equity.

Garlinghouse also compared that equity with owning Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock. Ripple owns substantial XRP, but Brad said it cannot command the network because the code is open source. He placed XRP closer to Bitcoin than corporate equity. The SEC said Ripple sold unregistered securities. Brad said the matter was civil, not criminal, though the possible penalty was enormous. In his visits to the SEC office in 2017, 2018, and 2019, Garlinghouse did not have legal representation.

A Harvard Business School alumnus, he never treated XRP as a security but only explained the Ripple system to the SEC office personnel. “Not once did someone say to me, Brad, we think XRP might be a security,” he said. When the agency later sued both him and Ripple, Brad questioned whether its theory meant every XRP holder who sold tokens had also broken securities law.

He said the personal charge was meant to pressure him. Brad called the SEC’s conduct “distasteful” and “maybe unethical.” Ripple repeatedly asked for clear guidance, yet regulators gave none before suing. Ripple won after four years. Trump later appointed a new chair who adopted a different approach and engaged crypto companies directly during the final years of the fight.

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Open USD will be owned and operated by the partner through an independent company, Open Standard, according to the announcement on Tuesday. The stablecoin is expected to launch natively on Solana from day one later in 2026. Open Standard’s founding CEO, Zach Abrams, framed the initiative as a response to pain points that existing stablecoins create at enterprise scale.

Open USD set for launch later this year

Abrams said businesses currently face fees for minting and redeeming tokens, have limited access to reserve yields, and depend on roadmaps set by a single issuer. “Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests,” said the Open Standard CEO.

Per the announcement, businesses can mint and redeem Open USD at no cost, with no artificial volume limits. All earnings from Open USD’s reserves will be shared by partners. The partners are throwing heavy support for Open USD, with payment giant Stripe already planning to make Open USD its default stablecoin.

“Businesses need a stablecoin designed to work at a global, industrial scale. And not at the scale of the 2026 economy, but of the 2040 economy, with flurries of activity we can only begin to imagine; that’s why Open USD will be the default stablecoin for businesses running on Stripe,” said Will Gaybrick, President of Technology and Business at Stripe.

Open USD comes as interest and total market cap of stablecoins continue to swell, currently at $298 billion, according to data from Messari. BNY’s Chief Product and Innovation Officer, Carolyn Weinberg, anticipates that stablecoins alone may grow to $1.5 trillion by 2030, adding that a stablecoin such as Open USD with neutral governance and shared economics “has potential to unlock the next phase of digital assets growth.”

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According to the official press release, RLUSD now reaches retail and institutional users through SBI VC Trade. This makes it the second foreign dollar stablecoin Japan has ever cleared after USDC. It also carries a label no other token holds in the country, becoming Japan’s first “Type 4” electronic payment instrument, which is a category that the JFSA built specifically for regulated stablecoins. This is extremely crucial since there is now a defined legal home for RLUSD inside Japanese payment law instead of operating on regulatory tolerance.

Ripple goes live in Japan after clearing MiCA

According to reports, all RLUSD transactions will have a cap of ¥1 million, which is roughly $6,200. This is to make it easier to monitor and keep the early flows at a lower volume. The token also runs on Ethereum rather than the XRP Ledger. The first version of RLUSD in Japan lives on infrastructure Ripple doesn’t control. Just days before this news dropped, Ripple picked up preliminary MiCA approval in Luxembourg, a CASP license that sets up passporting across all 30 EEA countries once it’s finalized.

The pair of achievements means that RLUSD gains legal standing across Japan and most of Europe in the span of a week. Stablecoins spent most of the last ten years growing by avoiding regulators. Issuers parked reserves offshore, set up in light-touch jurisdictions, and handled enforcement only when it caught up with them. RLUSD went the other way. It got licensed inside the regimes that matter most, and Japan and the EU sit near the top of that list. This is the part that matters for adoption. A dollar stablecoin cleared by both the JFSA and MiCA isn’t a workaround built to dodge oversight.

It is a product that banks and regulated exchanges can hold without legal guesswork. SBI handling distribution in Japan puts it in front of an established financial player, not a crypto-native niche. The ¥1 million cap and the Ethereum rails show how carefully Japan is stepping into this, but the direction is locked in. For a sector that has spent years arguing it can operate inside the rules, two clearances this strict in one week are a harder data point to wave off than another offshore launch. The open question is usage. Clearing the regulators was the hard part on paper. Whether RLUSD actually moves volume across both regions is the test that hasn’t run yet.

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In a report on Monday, MoneyGram said it has launched a validator and also joined the Solana Developer Platform (SDP) as an infrastructure partner. Being a validator allows the global payment leader to stake SOL tokens, process blocks, and directly participate in the network’s security. “Running a validator puts MoneyGram inside Solana’s consensus,” said Luke Tuttle, Chief Product and Technology Officer at MoneyGram.

MoneyGram says becoming a Solana validator was the next step

The move will see MoneyGram connect its network of nearly 500,000 retail locations, with over 60 million customers, to Solana’s on-chain infrastructure, according to the announcement. The firm said joining the Solana ecosystem comes as a natural extension of its commitment to integrating crypto into its core global payments platform over the last five years. In 2019, MoneyGram partnered with RippleNet and processed billions of transactions using XRP-based On-Demand Liquidity products.

However, the partnership was shelved following the Ripple-SEC ordeal in 2021. By joining and running a Solana validator, Tuttle said the idea is that MoneyGram helps “run the rails we move money on.” Solana now counts as the third network where the global payment giant operates a validator. In May, MoneyGram became one of the select groups of institutions designated to run a validator for remittance transactions on the Tempo network.

MoneyGram is also among the early node operators of the Midnight network, launched in March 2026 by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson. MoneyGram’s move to Solana comes less than one month after it launched its stablecoin on Stellar, MGUSD, Cryptopolitan reported. MGUSD is a US dollar-backed stablecoin, currently available only to US customers on its mobile app.

“MoneyGram has spent the past several years integrating blockchain into our payment infrastructure, and everything we are building now leverages this foundation,” said Anthony Soohoo, Chairman and CEO, MoneyGram. “Engaging with Solana is the next step in that journey.”

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According to previous reports, companies like Ripple, Cosmos Labs, and Tether have also been looking to get on the moving train. In its official announcement, a16z stated that it chose to launch its first Asian office in Korea after evaluating the country’s technical workforce, consumer adoption rates, and competitive position across multiple industries ranging from AI and manufacturing to defense and content. The company first announced plans to expand into Asia in December 2025.

a16z makes inroads into Asia with Korean office

In its announcement, a16z noted that roughly one in three Korean adults holds crypto, representing a participation rate that is higher than the stock-market ownership in the country. The firm noted that South Korea is the “second-largest crypto market” globally by trading activity. Other major crypto firms have been making similar expansions into Korea over the past two months. For instance, Tether filed seven trademark applications with Korea’s intellectual property office in May.

In addition, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire toured Seoul, meeting executives at KB Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group, and Hana Financial Group, while Ripple signed pilot programs with KBank, a local financial institution, back in April. Cosmos Labs acquired the Mintscan blockchain explorer and set up a Seoul subsidiary the same month. Korea is also preparing its Digital Asset Basic Act that will require foreign stablecoin issuers to maintain domestic branches if they want to distribute tokens locally.

By establishing a physical presence now, a16z is positioning itself and its portfolio companies to comply with these rules before they officially take effect. a16z has shared that its Seoul operation will start with crypto-focused work and then widen its scope over time. Sungmo Park, who joined a16z as its crypto Asia-Pacific go-to-market lead when the Asia expansion was announced in December, will run the Seoul office. Park previously held APAC roles at Monad Foundation and Polygon Labs and speaks Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English.

Unlike Circle, which has signed partnerships with exchanges Dunamu (operator of Upbit) and Bithumb while telling Korean media it would seek a local subsidiary and license, a16z does not require a license, nor does it intend to launch a product. Instead, it is building go-to-market infrastructure so its existing portfolio companies, which span crypto protocols, infrastructure, and applications, can reach Korean users and partners more easily.

Due to South Korea’s proposed Digital Asset Basic Act, a lot of foreign crypto firms are already jockeying for a position in the country. Also, the firm is yet to disclose which portfolio companies will be first to use the Seoul office for market entry, but Park’s mandate covers all of Asia-Pacific, so the office could also serve as a staging point for expansion into Japan, Singapore, and India, all markets a16z flagged as high-growth in its December announcement.

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The agreement removes a major obstacle that stalled the CLARITY Act and renewed expectations for a committee vote in May. The proposal now centers on limiting passive stablecoin yield while allowing rewards tied to platform activity.

Stablecoin Reward Dispute Eases

The dispute slowed progress because banks and crypto firms disagreed over stablecoin rewards. Traditional banks pushed for tighter limits, arguing that yield on stablecoin balances could pull deposits away from the banking system and pressure lenders.

Crypto companies argued that a broad ban would hurt consumers and weaken competition in digital finance. Coinbase Global Inc. supported rewards linked to platform use, including payments, transfers, and network activity, instead of passive returns on idle balances.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said banks secured restrictions, but crypto platforms preserved the ability for Americans to earn rewards through real usage. The compromise reflects a narrower approach that seeks to protect consumer incentives and address banking sector concerns.

CLARITY Act Gains New Momentum

The CLARITY Act aims to define how the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversee digital assets. Supporters say the bill would reduce uncertainty by assigning clearer regulatory authority across crypto markets.

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal described the legislation as unfinished work after the GENIUS Act passed last year. That earlier law created a stablecoin framework, but it did not settle broader market structure questions.

The breakthrough could allow the Senate Banking Committee to restart action on the bill. Lawmakers had pulled back from a scheduled markup earlier because the stablecoin rewards issue remained unresolved.

May Window Raises Pressure

Political pressure is rising because lawmakers and industry leaders view May as a critical window for passage. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said at XRP Las Vegas that he expects the CLARITY Act to pass by the end of May.

Garlinghouse has shifted his timeline before, but his latest comments show industry confidence that negotiations are moving forward. Reports suggest supporters want the bill through committee, the Senate floor, and to President Trump before the Memorial Day recess on May 21.

Senator Cynthia Lummis has also warned that the current window may be the last strong chance to pass the bill until 2030. Senator Bernie Moreno has made similar remarks, pointing to rare alignment among the House, Senate, and White House.

The compromise does not end every policy dispute, but it narrows the biggest remaining barrier. If lawmakers hold the coalition together, the Senate crypto bill could move closer to a final vote this month.

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The agreement places Ripple inside South Korea’s regulated digital banking sector through the country’s first internet-only lender. It shows how Korean institutions are testing stablecoin settlement and blockchain infrastructure for faster international payments.

KBank Tests Blockchain Remittances With Ripple

KBank and Ripple signed the agreement on April 27 at KBank’s headquarters in Seoul. KBank CEO Choi Woo-hyung and Ripple Asia-Pacific Managing Director Fiona Murray attended the signing.

The pilot will examine whether blockchain remittance systems can improve speed, cost control, and transaction visibility compared with traditional correspondent banking. KBank is testing the service in stages to assess technical performance and compliance needs before any rollout.

The first phase reviewed a wallet-based remittance service through a separate app interface. The current phase connects KBank customer accounts and internal systems to test on-chain transfer stability. The routes under review are tied to the UAE and Thailand.

KBank is using Ripple’s Palisade SaaS-based wallet. The pilot uses stablecoin settlement instead of XRP, which reduces exposure to crypto price swings. This structure gives the bank a way to study blockchain payments while managing risk.

KBank Link Gives Ripple Strategic Access

KBank holds a key role in South Korea’s digital asset market. The bank is the exclusive banking partner of Upbit, the country’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume. Korean rules require exchange users to connect verified bank accounts, and each major exchange works with one bank.

This model helped KBank grow from about 2 million users in 2020 to 15 million by the end of 2025. The Ripple agreement, therefore, connects the company with a bank central to Korea’s crypto trading structure.

The deal also arrives as South Korea prepares its Digital Asset Basic Act. The framework is expected to treat stablecoins as payment instruments and set rules for cross-border digital asset activity. Banks and insurers are moving early into blockchain custody, settlement, and tokenization projects.

Ripple Builds Wider Institutional Network

Ripple has expanded its Korea strategy beyond remittances. On April 15, the company signed a deal with Kyobo Life Insurance to test tokenized government bond settlement. That project aims to support Korean treasury settlement and explore stablecoin-based payment rails.

Ripple is also expanding its institutional network outside Korea. It has partnered with Aviva Investors to support tokenized fund issuance and management on the XRP Ledger through 2026. Aviva Investors had $345 billion in net assets under management as of 2025.

Ripple has also worked with Convera to strengthen blockchain settlement for business payments. These deals show Ripple’s wider push into regulated remittances, custody, tokenization, and stablecoin payment infrastructure.

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The KelpDAO exploit became one of the largest crypto hacks of 2026, with early estimations linking the $292 million lost from the platform to the North Korean Lazarus Group. On X, the Ripple CTO said he had reviewed several DeFi infrastructures, focusing solely on security and risk. His remarks come days after the breach reignited concerns about the security of cross-chain infrastructure. Based on his research, he determined that most DeFi systems include top-tier security tools, but the very mechanisms designed to prevent KelpDAO-style attacks are treated as optional.

Ripple CTO urges DeFi platforms to prioritize security

According to the Ripple CTO, incidents like these occur because teams don’t want to bear additional operational complexity costs. He wrote, “They generally in effect recommended not bothering to use the most important security mechanisms because they have convenience and operational complexity costs.” Schwartz said his concerns emerged during evaluations of bridge systems for Ripple’s planned RLUSD stablecoin.

While many protocols appear robust in design, he argued that real-world deployments often fall short because teams prioritize convenience and rapid expansion over strict security practices. In his post, the Ripple CTO also highlighted that the rush to scale across chains has created a growth-first, safety-second culture in which the most important safeguards are being ditched.

He asserted that most platforms’ selling points emphasize easy integration, with the unspoken expectation that the most robust security tools wouldn’t actually be used. Additionally, he said the KelpDAO attack reflects a dangerous pattern in which teams opt for convenience over the best-in-class security already available to them— similar to what he observed during his DeFi evaluations.

He stated, “I have a funny feeling part of the problem is going to be something like KelpDAO choosing not to use key LayerZero security features out of convenience.” More recently, some analysts also sounded the alarm that Wrapped XRP (wXRP) on Solana could be the next domino to fall, since it relies on third-party issuers, and it carries the same counterparty risks that just cost KelpDAO $292 million.

XRP Ledger validator, VET on X, wrote, “wXRP is an issued asset; it doesn’t come close to holding native XRP via self-custody from a risk POV.” However, some cross-chain protocols have already started putting up defenses. Flare, for instance, temporarily suspended FXRP bridging activity, holding off any token redemptions. Schwartz had also commented soon after the KelpDAO exploit. He described the attack as sophisticated and noted that it exploited KelpDAO’s lack of oversight.

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The collaboration combines blockchain technology with established financial networks. XRP continues to trade near $1.34 as investor confidence strengthens.

Ripple expands its global payments infrastructure

Ripple is building a unified payments platform for global businesses. The system enables firms to collect, hold, and transfer funds seamlessly. It reduces reliance on third-party intermediaries and lowers settlement delays.

The platform includes custody solutions, liquidity tools, and virtual accounts. These features help businesses manage funds across currencies and regions. Payments can be timed and routed efficiently based on market conditions.

Ripple has established a strong global footprint across more than 60 markets. It holds over 75 licenses and operates under a New York Trust Company Charter. The network has processed over $95 billion in transaction volume.

Several financial institutions already use the system for cross-border transfers. These include AMINA Bank, AltPayNet, CambioReal, Corpay, MassPay, and Alfred. Their adoption highlights the growing demand for blockchain-based settlement solutions.

Convera integrates blockchain for faster business payments

Convera brings its extensive payment network into the partnership. The firm operates in over 200 countries and supports more than 140 currencies. It serves over 26,000 business clients worldwide.

The collaboration integrates Ripple’s blockchain settlement rails with Convera’s foreign exchange infrastructure. This approach improves transaction speed and reliability for corporate payments. It also enhances liquidity management for international operations.

A key feature is the stablecoin settlement model used in the system. Payments begin in fiat currency and convert into stablecoins for settlement. They are then converted back into fiat at the destination.

This model reduces the need for pre-funded foreign accounts. It also lowers transaction costs and improves capital efficiency. Businesses can move funds globally without holding digital assets directly.

Stablecoins drive adoption across financial markets

Stablecoins are gaining traction in global finance due to their efficiency and transparency. Transaction volumes reached approximately $33 trillion last year. This growth has drawn attention from regulators and financial institutions.

Governments are introducing frameworks to address reserve backing and consumer protection. These measures aim to improve trust and ensure financial stability. They also support wider adoption among businesses and banks.

Major payment companies are expanding their stablecoin capabilities. Visa has increased settlement options for financial institutions. Mastercard has also invested in stablecoin infrastructure through acquisitions.

Meanwhile, XRP remains stable near $1.34. Market sentiment has improved following the Ripple and Convera partnership. Investors are watching enterprise adoption closely.

Social media discussions reflect a strong interest in cross-border payment use cases. Many analysts believe stablecoins will gain traction in international transfers before retail payments. Others expect broader use at payment terminals in the future.

The partnership signals continued momentum in blockchain-based financial infrastructure. It also reinforces the role of stablecoins in modern payment systems.

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Transaction demand has come close to major limits and is causing an increase in costs. Network behavior is sensitive in that it changes in response to crossed safe capacity thresholds.

Rising activity pushes XRPL toward limits

Recently, the XRP Ledger has been doing approximately 200 transactions per ledger. This has been a level that has hardly been maintained in the history of the network. According to one dUNL validator, the activity has been steadily increasing in the past market movement.

This has been spurred by increased trading. The overall crypto market is showing recovery, and traders have been repositioning. The changes in demand as little as that may cause the system to become out of the optimal range.

XRPL fees are not based on a predefined design. They are dynamically adjusted according to the network conditions. Once volumes increase beyond the capacity, then the fees increase rapidly to control usage.

This is a mechanism that keeps the network going. It eliminates the possibility of congestion of validators. Nevertheless, it causes observable cost increases when the activity is high.

Capacity thresholds and validator coordination

The Ripple CTO described that the network is capable of doing approximately 200 transactions per hour. After this level is reached, the fees start shooting up. This is for protection and not a punishment.

Validators are key players in the maintenance of performance. The number of transactions that are included within a ledger cycle is determined by them. They are also concerned with stability, as opposed to maximum speed.

The validators must agree on a majority to reach a consensus. This is done based on the Unique Node List setup. Each validator determines safe capacity depending on the performance of the system in the recent past.

The exponential fee model is then used. Under pressure, fees do not increase gradually. Instead, they gain momentum very rapidly when there is an endpoint.

This balance is a network health critical balance. Efficiency can be lowered by the early rise of fees. Any delay or instability of the system may occur due to late adjustments.

AI-driven development adds new pressure

The recent XRPL activity also indicates a boom in developer involvement. According to validators, there is a rapid growth of tools, dashboards, and applications. A great deal of them are associated with AI-assisted coding.

Developers are constructing at an accelerated rate compared to ever before. Activities that used to take huge grants are now done within a short time with few resources. This has reduced entry barriers in the ecosystem.

One of the validators noted that the scale of development is never like before. It has become an incredibly diverse network with several experimental tools and clients. This expansion adds to the increased transaction volumes.

RippleX engineering management recognized this wave. New tools are in the pipeline for release to the masses. One such example is command line interface to administer test environments.

It is a tool that can generate sandboxed environments and execute scripts effectively. It is also interactive with testnet and devnet systems. These inventions will help in future development.

The XRPL charges are an indication of both increased demand and protection measures. The network manages to keep the prices in check when faced with pressure. The trading is still being pushed higher, as well as the quick development.

The use of validator coordination is still necessary in throughput management. Simultaneously, the AI-based innovation is driving the expansion of the ecosystem. The combination of those factors determines the existing fee behavior on the XRP Ledger.

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