Ripple has been making strides toward expanding its services across the cryptocurrency and fintech worlds following the conclusion of its legal battle with the SEC.
The network just announced another major development aimed at boosting the RLUSD stablecoin adoption.
Ripple just announced that it is expanding RLUSD support in Africa through multiple partnerships.
The network revealed strategic collaboration with VALR, Chipper Cash, and Yellow Card, all three being fintech firms operating on the continent.
Ripple revealed in the announcement that it plans to use the collaboration to unlock cross-border efficiencies. It also aims to enhance financial infrastructure in the African continent.
According to the official announcement, the partnerships will allow RLUSD to target institutional adoption in Africa.
The use cases for the stablecoin on the continent will not only include cross-border payments but also treasury management. Some special use cases highlighted included escrow services for famine insurance.
Ripple Taps into Thunes For Global Market Push
Ripple has reportedly upgraded its partnership with Asian fintech giant, Thunes. The two initially announced their collaboration in 2020 but this refresh reportedly aims to introduce enhanced blockchain-powered cross-border payments.
In other words, Ripple Payments will now power Thunes Direct Global Network. The latter extends across 130 countries and supports more than 80 currencies.
The collaboration highlighted Ripple’s intent to upgrade from traditional systems that were less efficient compared to blockchain technology.
Thunes not only has deep roots in the Asian market but also internationally, specifically in the global remittance segment.
This was one of the key areas that Ripple has been targeting mostly due to the friction of payment and the massive growth opportunities.
Ripple Faces Criticism Over Insufficient Decentralization
Although Ripple has been pushing into the fintech industry, its efforts have also received some criticism.
Caitlin Long, the CEO of Custodia Bank, recently criticized Ripple for having a centralized network and what she termed as backwards tokenomics.
Caitlin’s claims were mostly rooted in the XRP ledger’s different consensus approach. The network has a high degree of influence on the validators that run its nodes as part of its Unique Nodes List (UNL) approach.
Despite these concerns, Ripple has maintained a heavy focus on institutional services.
Its collaborative strategies have so far allowed the network to expand its roots deeper into the traditional finance segment, thus acting as a bridge into WEB3.
Although Ripple maintained an aggressive pace since the end of its long-lasting legal battle with the SEC, adoption by banks remained relatively slow.
There were multiple reasons for this outcome, such as the economic and regulatory-related hurdles that remained in place.
Caitlin’s statements also underscored trust-related concerns that still loomed over Ripple’s efforts to integrate with mainstream banks.
Nevertheless, the recent announcement about Ripple’s partnerships underscored efforts aimed at becoming a core fintech infrastructure.
This could secure Ripple’s place not just as a blockchain firm but as a technology firm. Meanwhile, confidence around Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has been declining as evidenced by its performance.
The coin exchanged hands at $2.8 at the time of observation, after a 22% discount from its historic top in July.
However, attention has been shifting in favor of the RLUSD stablecoin. An unsurprising outcome considering that stablecoins were among the key growth drivers so far in 2025.
