Introduction — Ripple, XRP & XRP Ledger
Ripple’s history is closely linked to the XRP Ledger, but the company, XRP and XRPL are not the same thing. This chronology keeps those distinctions explicit and separates contracts, partnerships, pilots, investments and acquisitions.
Chapter 2012 — Birth of the XRP Ledger and the company
Documented contracts and partnerships
- XRP Ledger launched in June.
- The company that became Ripple was formed in September, first as NewCoin and then OpenCoin.
- The XRPL founders allocated 80 billion XRP to the company to develop ecosystem use cases.
Chapter 2013 — OpenCoin becomes Ripple Labs
Documented milestones
- OpenCoin adopted the Ripple Labs name and increasingly focused on working with existing financial institutions and payment infrastructure.
Chapter 2014 — First banks and Earthport
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Fidor Bank — announced integration of the Ripple protocol.
- Cross River Bank — agreement for real-time international payments.
- CBW Bank — announced with Cross River as the first two U.S. banks signed by Ripple Labs.
- Earthport — global partnership to integrate Ripple into cross-border banking payments.
Chapter 2015 — Funding and closer ties with major banks
Documented milestones
- Santander InnoVentures joined Ripple’s Series A, taking the round to $32 million. This was a strategic investment, not evidence that every Santander product used XRP.
Chapter 2016 — From pilots toward bank deployment
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Ripple and SBI Holdings created SBI Ripple Asia.
- Santander, UniCredit, UBS, ReiseBank, CIBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and ATB Financial were announced as adopting Ripple technology for cross-border payments.
- Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, Westpac and RBC became founding members of the Global Payments Steering Group; CIBC also joined.
- A separate R3 trial involving twelve banks tested XRP for cross-border liquidity; a trial is not the same as commercial XRP deployment.
Chapter 2017 — RippleNet expands
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Ripple announced ten new customers: MUFG, BBVA, SEB, Akbank, Axis Bank, YES BANK, SBI Remit, Cambridge Global Payments, Star One Credit Union and eZforex.com.
- American Express joined RippleNet and worked with Santander UK on a U.S.–UK B2B payments corridor.
Chapter 2018 — Visible XRP payment pilots
Documented contracts and partnerships
- MoneyGram announced a pilot using XRP through xRapid.
- SAMA — pilot program for Saudi banks.
- UAE Exchange — cross-border payments partnership.
- LianLian International — payments partnership for China.
Chapter 2019 — The strategic MoneyGram partnership
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Ripple and MoneyGram entered an initially two-year strategic partnership centered on cross-border settlement and foreign exchange using digital assets and xRapid/ODL.
- Ripple also committed up to $50 million of capital in exchange for equity.
Chapter 2020 — ODL and liquidity financing
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Ripple launched Line of Credit in beta for On-Demand Liquidity customers, enabling cross-border payment financing using XRP.
- Ripple said agreements signed during 2020 increased 80% year over year, although not every counterparty was publicly named.
Chapter 2021 — Tranglo and partnership restructuring
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Ripple agreed to acquire a 40% stake in Tranglo to expand RippleNet and ODL in Southeast Asia.
- Tranglo later launched its first live ODL service in the Philippines.
- Ripple and MoneyGram mutually ended their existing partnership in March.
Chapter 2022 — Geographic expansion of ODL
Documented contracts and partnerships
- FOMO Pay — ODL for treasury flows.
- Travelex Bank — announced as the first Latin American bank using ODL in Brazil.
- Lemonway — expanded relationship toward ODL in France.
- Xbaht — ODL in Sweden.
- MFS Africa — crypto-enabled cross-border payments in Africa.
Chapter 2023 — Custody and digital currencies
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Metaco — Ripple acquired the Swiss digital-asset custody and tokenization company for $250 million.
- Fortress Trust — acquisition agreement announced, subject to the conditions stated at the time.
- Banco de la República / MinTIC — blockchain technology pilot in Colombia.
- Republic of Palau — stablecoin pilot on XRPL after collaboration begun in 2021.
Chapter 2024 — Custody, tokenization and RLUSD
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Standard Custody & Trust Company — acquisition completed after required regulatory approvals.
- Archax — collaboration expanded with the goal of bringing tokenized real-world assets to XRPL.
- Mercado Bitcoin — first Brazilian customer announced for Ripple’s end-to-end managed Payments solution.
- Garanti BBVA Kripto + IBM — custody infrastructure following a 2023 pilot.
- Ripple USD (RLUSD) — global launch in December 2024; RLUSD and XRP are distinct assets with different economic functions.
Chapter 2025 — A wave of acquisitions transforms Ripple
Documented contracts and partnerships
- Hidden Road — $1.25 billion acquisition; after closing, the business became Ripple Prime.
- Rail — acquisition of a stablecoin payments platform.
- GTreasury — $1 billion acquisition announced, subject to stated closing conditions.
- Palisade — acquisition to expand digital-asset custody and wallet-as-a-service capabilities.
Chapter 2026 — Consolidating a broader financial infrastructure
Documented contracts and partnerships
- By 2026, Ripple’s footprint spans payments, custody, stablecoins, prime brokerage, corporate treasury and wallets.
- New 2026 contracts and partnerships should be added only after public verification, with the exact nature of the agreement and whether Ripple technology, XRP or XRPL is involved.
What this chronology shows
Across these years, Ripple expanded from payments infrastructure into custody, stablecoins, prime brokerage, corporate treasury and wallets. A Ripple relationship does not automatically mean XRP is used; each announcement must be read for the exact technology and commercial scope.