Ripple accelerates its layout in the Middle East, promoting asset tokenization and cross-border payments.

Ripple's recent activities in the Middle East have attracted industry attention. The company not only plays a significant role in a real estate tokenization project in Dubai but has also drawn investment from members of the Saudi royal family, highlighting its increasingly strategic position in the region.

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has been selected as the underlying blockchain network for PRYPCO, Dubai's first government-led real estate tokenization project. The project is being carried out in collaboration with the Dubai Land Department and the asset tokenization platform Ctrl Alt, aimed at achieving on-chain issuance of real estate assets. This is an important part of Dubai's "Real Estate 2033 Strategy," which aims to achieve a real estate tokenization market size of $16.3 billion by 2033.

The technical advantage of XRPL lies in its use of the Ripple protocol consensus algorithm, which does not require mining and enables fast transaction settlement. In addition to real estate tokenization, XRPL is also actively expanding its stablecoin ecosystem, with projects such as EURCV, which is pegged to the Euro, and BBRL, which is pegged to the Brazilian Real, currently being promoted.

At the same time, XRP has also gained favor from Middle Eastern capital. A Nasdaq-listed energy company announced the completion of a $121 million private placement, which will transform into a crypto asset reserve strategy centered around XRP. This financing was led by a Saudi prince with an investment of $100 million, highlighting the recognition of Middle Eastern capital for the XRP ecosystem.

Ripple has long valued the Middle Eastern market. As early as 2020, the company established its regional headquarters in the Dubai International Financial Centre. In March of this year, Ripple obtained a regulatory license issued by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, becoming the first compliant blockchain payment provider in the region. Subsequently, the company partnered with UAE digital bank Zand Bank and fintech company Mamo to integrate its cross-border payment system into their financial services.

Ripple is also intensifying its layout in the fields of brokerage, custody, and tokenization. The company plans to acquire the major brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, aiming to expand the services it provides to institutional investors. After the acquisition is completed, Ripple will inject substantial capital to meet the needs of Hidden Road's prime brokerage business and explore the use of the XRP Ledger to improve settlement efficiency.

Experts believe that Ripple is trying to build a technological layer for global financial asset tokenization through the XRP Ledger. The company's vision is to provide "tokenization as a service" for financial institutions, achieving an integrated process from asset tokenization, collateral payments to settlement circulation.

In terms of the regulatory environment in the United States, Ripple recently reached a settlement agreement with the SEC, marking the formal end of a years-long regulatory tug-of-war between the two parties. The company subsequently submitted a supplementary letter to the SEC, emphasizing that XRP itself does not constitute a security and suggesting the introduction of a "safe harbor" mechanism to provide more practical compliance guidance for the digital asset market.

Overall, Ripple is rapidly redeploying its global strategy with the help of the Middle East, a regulation-friendly region. The XRP Ledger, as its technological core, is taking on multiple roles from payment infrastructure, stablecoin settlement to asset tokenization. If Ripple can successfully promote the "tokenization as a service" model, the Middle East could become an important testing ground for integrating DeFi with traditional finance and driving asset on-chain.