Institutional-grade infrastructure is expanding XRP beyond payments as Hex Trust, a licensed digital asset custodian, announced the issuance and custody of wrapped XRP (wXRP) on December 12, 2025. The move aims to unlock cross-chain liquidity for XRP in decentralized finance (DeFi) while maintaining strict regulatory compliance.
wXRP: Fully Collateralized and Custodied
According to the official announcement, wXRP is a 1:1-backed representation of native XRP, minted only when an equivalent amount of XRP is held in Hex Trust's regulated custody. The company emphasized that all underlying XRP is stored in segregated custody accounts, with tightly controlled issuance and redemption mechanisms to ensure the circulating wXRP supply always matches reserves. This design provides institutions with a secure and compliant way to gain XRP exposure across multiple blockchains.
$100M+ Initial Liquidity Across Major Chains
Hex Trust revealed that wXRP will launch with over $100 million in total value locked (TVL), providing a strong liquidity foundation from day one. The initial scale is intended to support smoother trading, more reliable price discovery, and healthier market conditions at launch. wXRP will initially support Solana, Optimism, Ethereum, and HyperEVM, with additional blockchain integrations planned. Notably, wXRP will be tradable with Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD on these chains, creating synergy between XRP and RLUSD ecosystems.
Industry Leaders Endorse Multi-Chain Expansion
David Schwartz, CTO of Ripple, commented on social media platform X: “More XRP ecosystems is a good thing. Letting XRP operate in more environments builds utility, and the XRPL remains the anchor that makes it all work.” Reece Merrick, Ripple's Senior Executive Officer and Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa, added: “Hex Trust just launched Wrapped XRP (wXRP) on LayerZero's OFT Standard, starting with Solana to bring native XRP liquidity to DeFi across chains.”
Regulatory Compliance as a Competitive Advantage
Giorgia Pellizzari, CPO and Head of Custody at Hex Trust, stated: “With wXRP, we are expanding XRP liquidity in DeFi and cross-chain networks including broader utility between XRP and RLUSD. Users of wXRP and RLUSD will benefit from two assets that are built on trusted, compliant infrastructure, enabling broader DeFi utility for XRP and RLUSD across supported blockchains.”
The launch of wXRP marks a pivotal shift for XRP from a payment and settlement token to a fully compliant, multi-chain DeFi asset. With Hex Trust's licensed custody and issuance framework, institutional investors now have a secure gateway to participate in cross-chain decentralized finance activities using XRP. Analysts believe that the deep liquidity provided by wXRP will drive real-world DeFi use cases, such as lending, trading, and yield aggregation, further solidifying XRP's role as a core asset in the crypto economy.