Ripple Labs is doubling down on its presence in Japan, leveraging its long-standing relationships with traditional Japanese financial institutions. This strategy aims to increase adoption and interest in the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
This week, Asia Web3 Alliance Japan and Web3 Salon launched the Japan Financial Infrastructure Innovation Program. This initiative aims to support Japanese startups developing next-generation compliant digital financial solutions on the XRP Ledger.
Ripple’s Japan strategy will test whether institutions can lift the ban on XRP
The program opens for applications on December 19 and offers grants of $10,000 per startup. We focus on three high-value areas including stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, and credit infrastructure.
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“Japan offers overwhelming opportunities for blockchain innovation, supported by a forward-thinking regulatory framework and deep talent pool. This program represents Ripple’s commitment to fostering a vibrant ecosystem where startups can leverage the speed, low cost, and reliability of the XRP Ledger to generate real-world benefits and transform financial infrastructure,” said Christina Zhang, RippleX’s senior director of developer growth.
Analysts see this as a low-cost funnel to identify candidates for Ripple’s significantly larger capital pool, which includes a 1 billion XRP fund dedicated to Japanese and Korean developers.
The program has secured support from strong establishment players including Mizuho Bank, SMBC Nikko Securities and Securitize Japan.
The effort comes at a perilous time for the network, despite receiving significant support from businesses. While Ripple touts institutional adoption, the underlying usage of XRPL tells a contradictory story of shrinkage.
According to data from DefiLlama, XRPL’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has plummeted in recent months. TVL has fallen from a high of $120 million in July to around $62 million at the time of writing.
This nearly 50% drawdown suggests that capital is flowing out of the network’s DeFi protocols even as corporate partnerships expand.
Meanwhile, widespread weakness in the crypto market likely contributed to the drawdown, as Bitcoin is down 30% from its October high of more than $126,000.
Additionally, the push to tokenize assets faces intense competition. According to Rwa.xyz, XRPL currently ranks 9th in the world in tokenized assets with approximately $213 million in assets.
While this is significant, it lags significantly behind networks like Ethereum and newer competitors that are gaining a significant share of the RWA market.
With this in mind, the JFIIP program is more than just a startup accelerator. By firmly anchoring itself in Japan’s banking infrastructure, Ripple hopes to create a sticky ecosystem that is less susceptible to speculative fluctuations in the broader cryptocurrency market.
