Ripple is moving deeper into cross-border payments with a new stablecoin push aimed at the U.S.-Mexico corridor. The company said Bitso’s Mexican peso-backed stablecoin MXNB will launch on the XRP Ledger and integrate with Ripple’s Payments on Decentralized Exchange infrastructure in December.
The target market is large. World Bank estimates cited in the announcement put remittance flows into Mexico at about $67 billion in 2025. Ripple is framing the move around enterprise payment rails rather than crypto trading, combining RLUSD, MXNB, XRPL’s permissioned DEX model, onchain liquidity, and regulated settlement infrastructure.
Stablecoin settlement takes aim at banking friction
Cross-border transfers still face stubborn inefficiencies. The World Bank says average global remittance fees remain near 6%, well above the United Nations’ 3% target. Traditional international payments often pass through several correspondent banks, pick up foreign-exchange spreads, and settle slowly. Stablecoin systems are being pitched as an alternative route with continuous blockchain-based settlement.
The sector is already crowded. DefiLlama data shows the stablecoin market has passed $250 billion. Ripple says it already operates payment infrastructure in more than 80 countries. Bitso serves over 10 million users, and Bitso Business processes more than $82 billion in annualized transaction volume.
Permissioned DEX becomes the institutional hook
Ripple is placing XRPL’s permissioned DEX at the center of this strategy. Unlike open decentralized exchanges, the model is designed for verified counterparties and regulated activity. That structure is meant to address issues that have kept many institutions away from DeFi, including AML uncertainty, compliance concerns, unverified liquidity pools, and counterparty risk.
Silvio Pegado, Ripple’s Managing Director of LATAM, said the combination of RLUSD and MXNB on XRPL’s permissioned DEX is intended to build regulated onchain liquidity for enterprise cross-border payments. Ben Reid, Head of Stablecoins at Bitso Business, said MXNB was built for enterprise settlement and gives institutional counterparties access to peso-denominated liquidity onchain in the U.S.-Mexico corridor.
Mexico is bigger than remittances alone
Ripple and Bitso are also looking at the wider trade relationship. U.S. Census Bureau data cited in the report shows annual bilateral trade between the United States and Mexico exceeds $840 billion. That creates demand for FX settlement, treasury liquidity, supplier payments, and real-time dollar-peso conversion, all areas where stablecoin rails could be tested.
McKinsey estimates global cross-border payments could exceed $290 trillion by 2030. Ripple’s latest move suggests it wants XRPL positioned as settlement infrastructure inside that market, not just as a network associated with XRP speculation.