Ripple executive Reece Merrick has predicted that institutional adoption is going to accelerate at a rapid pace in 2026.
"By end of 2026, this number will increase and every significant bank, asset manager, and payment network will have meaningful exposure," he said.
Merrick is arguing that crypto is no longer an optional asset class, meaning that institutional investors have to embrace it in order to remain competitive.
Traditional finance (TradFi) banks that do not offer crypto services will lose clients to those that do. If a customer cannot hold Bitcoin or stablecoins in their JP Morgan or Chase account, they will move their capital to a fintech competitor (like Coinbase or Revolut).
"It’s no longer 'if.' It’s 'how fast' ... The train left the station," he said.
For instance, banks were paralyzed because they didn't know if stablecoins would be classified as illegal securities. The GENIUS Act officially classified compliant stablecoins, including RLUSD, as permitted payment infrastructure.
Banks like JPMorgan and Standard Chartered began integrating stablecoin rails directly into their backend.
Asset managers also realized that tokenized Treasury bills of the likes of BlackRock's BUIDL could be used as collateral for trading on a round-the-clock basis.
Ripple's great 2025
2025 is quite significant for Ripple since it finally put the years-long battle with the SEC to rest.
"What stayed with me most was watching the entire global team rally with unbreakable focus and determination. Seeing that unity and refusal to be distracted, along with the facts, made me absolutely positive we would win, no question!" Merrick recalled on the fifth anniversary of the groundbreaking lawsuit.
Ripple has effectively spent the last 12 months transforming from a payments company into a full-stack institutional infrastructure provider.
This newfound regulatory clarity allowed the San Francisco-headquartered company to aggressively deploy its massive funds for strategic acquisitions of the likes of Hidden Road and GTreasury.
RLUSD also became part of institutional payment flows, with its market cap surpassing $1 billion.
Institutional clients are now minting millions in TBILL tokens on the XRP Ledger via OpenEden. A hedge fund can now hold its idle cash in Tokenized T-Bills on the XRP Ledger and earn a yield of up to 5%.
