Ripple’s Strategic Shift: Why XRP Must Become Infrastructure, Not Currency

Jackson opens the episode by reframing the Citadel + Fortress investment. Rather than treating it as a typical venture injection, he describes it as a liquidity-infrastructure bet — one tied to Ripple’s push into wholesale CBDC design, tokenized deposits, and ISO 20022 settlement rails.

The key insight:
XRP cannot succeed as a currency inside bank settlement systems.
It can only succeed as infrastructure.

This distinction sits at the heart of modern regulatory architecture. BIS PFMI Principle 9, Basel III liquidity coverage requirements, and CBDC pilot documentation consistently point to the same rule:
settlement must occur in bank-issued money, not in public-chain assets.

But the system still needs a neutral conversion asset to bridge those siloed forms of bank money. Jackson argues that this is XRP’s category — not a currency, but a technical utility that connects tokenized deposits, CBDCs, stablecoins, and tokenized assets.

The Growing Divide: Private Chains vs Public Conversion Layers

Throughout the episode, Jackson outlines an emerging fault line in global finance.

Private-ledger banking systems:

• JPMorgan Onyx
• Fnality (Bank of England)
• Japan’s deposit-token pilots
  These systems keep liquidity internal and settle in tokenized commercial-bank money.

Public-ledger liquidity layers:

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) operates outside these private networks, making it capable of acting as a neutral conversion engine across incompatible systems.

Jackson’s argument is precise:
XRP works when it stops pretending to be money — and starts behaving like infrastructure.

By classifying XRP as a “critical service provider,” Ripple can sidestep monetary definitions, embed itself in institutional workflows, and allow banks to use XRP liquidity without holding the asset directly.

This is how XRP fits into a wholesale-CBDC ecosystem without becoming a CBDC itself.

RLUSD: Ripple’s Trojan Horse Into Bank Settlement

Jackson zeroes in on Ripple’s upcoming stablecoin, RLUSD, describing it as a Trojan horse for integration into regulated settlement systems.

RLUSD satisfies:

• stablecoin regulations
• custody requirements
• commercial-bank money frameworks
• tokenized deposit functionality
• wholesale CBDC compatibility

This makes RLUSD the visible, regulated settlement asset, while XRP operates underneath as the invisible conversion layer, routing liquidity and performing neutral FX without forcing banks to take price exposure.

Jackson’s framing:
RLUSD is the compliant surface; XRP is the hidden engine.

This structure finally resolves the long-standing “banker’s coin” dilemma — banks can use XRPL liquidity without ever holding XRP.

The Seven Mechanisms Shrinking XRP’s Effective Float

One of the episode’s most compelling segments is Jackson’s outline of seven structural forces that naturally remove XRP from circulation as the system scales.

These mechanisms include:

• Pre-funded liquidity seeding for institutional corridors
• Minimum buffer requirements enforced under Basel III
• Regulatory segregation of custodial assets
• Escrowed XRP for corridor assurance
• Operational assurance reserves required under critical-provider rules
• Collateralization of credit lines for settlement liquidity
• Bridging inventory for each tokenized FX pair

Jackson cites BIS PFMI Principle 9 and CPMI cross-border agreements to explain how settlement systems force liquidity into isolated pools — effectively reducing supply.

In a future where tokenized markets operate across thousands of corridors, each requiring its own XRP pool, the effective float shrinks dramatically.

Institutional Signals: Citadel, Fortress, Chainlink & Project Guardian

Jackson aligns his thesis with several real-world developments:

• Citadel Securities, one of the most influential market makers in global FX
• Fortress Investment Group, with deep ties to regulated custody
• Chainlink CCIP, already interfacing with SWIFT and private bank ledgers
• Project Guardian, MAS’s tokenized finance experiment
• UK Digital Securities Sandbox, enabling public-private settlement models

Taken together, these reflect a global shift toward tokenized assets, programmable liquidity, and interoperable settlement — exactly the environment where a neutral conversion layer becomes essential.

Why XRP’s Classification Determines Its Future

Jackson argues that XRP’s fate depends on whether it is treated as a currency or as financial-market infrastructure.

If classified as a currency:

• XRP remains entangled in monetary policy
• banks cannot use it for settlement
• regulatory restrictions limit adoption

If classified as infrastructure:

• XRP is evaluated on uptime, resilience, and interoperability
• banks can route through it without holding it
• XRP becomes the conversion collateral between CBDCs, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits

This classification shift — from money to middleware — is the key that unlocks XRP’s role inside the global settlement architecture.

Jackson expects Ripple to publish several BIS-aligned documents (wind-down plans, capital buffers, operational resilience frameworks) as prerequisites for formal “critical service provider” status.

Portfolio Implications: The Assets Positioned to Benefit

Jackson concludes by situating XRP within a broader ecosystem of assets forming the conversion, interoperability, compliance, and tokenization stack:

Bridge & Interoperability

XRP • Chainlink (LINK) • Quant (QNT)

Tokenization & RWA Infrastructure

Ethereum (ETH) • Ondo (ONDO) • OriginTrail (TRAC)

Custody & Compliance

Fortress • BNY Mellon • Zodia • Metaco

Stablecoin & Settlement Rails

RLUSD • USDC • tokenized deposits (e.g., HSBC, Fnality)

These assets underpin the programmable, multi-ledger financial system Jackson believes is now emerging.

Watch the Full Episode

To explore Jackson’s complete analysis — including BIS documents, CBDC settlement models, XRPL AMM mechanics, and Ripple’s evolving liquidity strategy — watch the full episode of The Macro.

For ongoing research into CBDCs, tokenized assets, interoperability crypto, and settlement architecture, follow Lewis Jackson Ventures.

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