Latin American crypto giant Mercado Bitcoin has announced plans to tokenize over $200 million in real-world assets (RWAs) on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). This initiative, encompassing fixed income and equity income instruments, marks one of the largest tokenization endeavors by a Latin American institution on XRPL.
This move is part of Mercado Bitcoin's strategic international expansion, aiming to enhance global liquidity and provide access to regulated digital products in South America and Europe. By leveraging XRPL's infrastructure, Mercado Bitcoin aims to bridge local financial markets with global capital networks. The company is opting to issue real-world assets directly on a public blockchain designed for institutional use, bypassing the traditional finance system.
Silvio Pegado, Ripple's Managing Director for LATAM, stated that Mercado Bitcoin's integration with the XRPL demonstrates the increasing trust institutions have in public blockchain infrastructure. He added that it is becoming a reliable foundation for bringing regulated financial products to the market, meeting institutional expectations for cost, speed, and compliance.
XRPL's design for financial settlement, characterized by near-instant finality and negligible fees, makes it a suitable platform for regulated assets. Its decade-long operational history, processing over 3.3 billion transactions without any security breaches, further instills confidence in institutional players to move real-world value on-chain. The initiative is also expected to position Mercado Bitcoin as a gateway between local financial markets and global capital networks.
Mercado Bitcoin's decision to tokenize $200 million in assets on the XRP Ledger is a calculated effort to position the exchange as a bridge between local financial markets and global capital networks. By digitizing traditional securities on blockchain networks like XRPL, Mercado Bitcoin is facilitating greater market efficiency, transparency, and accessibility. This development could attract more institutional players and foster a more inclusive financial ecosystem.
The RWA tokenization initiative also aligns with the forecast made by Ripple and Boston Consulting Group, which projects the tokenized asset market to surge from $0.6 trillion in 2025 to $19 trillion by 2033. This represents a potential 30x increase in less than a decade.
This move by Mercado Bitcoin could potentially boost XRP's price. Traders are observing whether this step in asset tokenization could provide the necessary momentum for a breakout. Increased capital flow into RWA projects on XRPL could increase utility-driven demand, potentially contributing to XRP's long-term price strength. Crypto analyst Ali has identified $2.38 as a key price level for XRP; a break through this barrier could trigger a significant rally. A surge beyond this level would target $2.65, ahead of the $3 level.
Mercado Bitcoin has already worked with Ripple in the past, utilizing Ripple's payment solutions for cross-border transactions between Brazil and Portugal. The exchange was also the first in Brazil to list Ripple's new RLUSD stablecoin, backed by U.S. dollars and designed for enterprise use.
With this initiative, Mercado Bitcoin becomes one of the world's top five tokenization operators. The company's expansion aims to broaden its support for global liquidity and access to regulated digital products in South America and Europe.
