Ripple joined Singapore’s MAS BLOOM sandbox on March 25 to pilot automated trade finance settlements using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, alongside participants such as JP Morgan, DBS, Circle, and Coinbase.
The pilot uses RLUSD as a settlement asset, not XRP, and 88% of RLUSD’s $1.56 billion supply is on Ethereum, meaning most of the stablecoin’s growth does not create direct demand for
XRPL’s automatic bridging and permissioned DEX create an indirect path for XRP demand, but the Clarity Act must pass before banks use XRP as a bridging asset at scale.
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Ripple has just been added to one of the most unique financial sandboxes in the world. BLOOM is an initiative by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that tests how stablecoins and tokenized assets can settle real cross-border payments, and the other participants include JP Morgan, DBS, Circle, Stripe and Coinbase. Ripple is using the sandbox to pilot automated RLUSD trade finance deals on the XRP Ledger, replacing the manual letter of credit process that has slowed cross-border trade for decades.
It is a significant step for Ripple’s institutional credibility and one of the clearest signs yet that regulators are taking RLUSD seriously as a settlement asset. But for XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) holders watching the price at $1.40, the question is whether any of this actually makes it to the token.
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Sergei Shimanovich / Shutterstock.com ·Sergei Shimanovich / Shutterstock.com
Ripple’s partner in the pilot is Unloq, a Singapore-based supply chain finance company that created a platform called SC+. Unloq bundles trading obligations, settlement terms, and funding workflows into one system running on XRP Ledger.
When a predefined condition is met, such as a customs API confirming that the cargo has arrived, the smart contract triggers an automatic RLUSD payment to the exporter. No bank has to manually review the documents or make the payment. The traditional version of this process uses letters of credit and correspondent banks, and typically takes five to ten days. The SC+ model compresses this to minutes and is aimed at smaller businesses that are excluded from trade finance because they can’t pay the fees.
BLOOM is not a startup accelerator or a typical fintech association. MAS launched it in October 2025, building on Project Orchid, a Singapore dollar digital initiative that has run more than ten pilots since 2021. The program has 16 members, including some of the biggest names in global banking and payments, and entering BLOOM means that MAS has vetted Ripple’s infrastructure and deemed it credible enough to conduct supervised testing with real trade flows. Singapore has one of the strictest regulatory environments for digital assets in the world, so clearing that bar carries weight.
Circle is already a founding member of BLOOM, meaning Ripple’s RLUSD is directly competing against USDC within the same sandbox. But the two stablecoins are being tested for different things. Circle USDC is primarily a payment and treasury tool. Ripple is delving deeper by testing whether RLUSD can handle condition-based settlement linked to physical supply chain events, giving it a trade finance use case that USDC has yet to demonstrate in BLOOM.
The BLOOM pilot settles merchant payments in RLUSD, not XRP, and that distinction is key. About 88% of RLUSD’s $1.56 billion supply is on Ethereum, not the XRP Ledger, meaning most of the stablecoin’s activity doesn’t touch XRP at all. Even the part that runs on XRPL consumes approximately 0.00001 XRP per transaction; could drive Visa-level volume through the ledger and barely impact supply. This is a win for Ripple’s enterprise business, but not a direct catalyst for the price of XRP.
It also fits a pattern that has been building all month. Ripple joined Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program on March 11, launched a full institutional stack in Brazil on March 17, and has now entered BLOOM on March 25. That’s three major wins in three weeks, and XRP has barely moved from $1.40. Ripple is valued at $50 billion, while XRP has fallen 62% from its cycle high. The company continues to grow, but the XRP token does not reflect it.
Date
Ripple Announcement
Use of XRP
March 11
Mastercard Crypto Partner Program
No (RLUSD settlement)
March 17
Full-stack launch in Brazil and VASP license
Partially (Braza Bank uses XRP as a bridge)
March 25
MAS BLOOM sandbox with Unloq
No (RLUSD settlement)
The XRP Ledger has a built-in feature called auto-bridging that routes trades through XRP when it offers a better rate than a direct exchange. A permissioned DEX on XRPL for regulated institutions was launched in February, and Braza Bank in Brazil is already using XRP as a bridge currency on the ledger. If RLUSD activity begins to shift from Ethereum to XRPL on a significant scale, that is when XRP begins to benefit. The BLOOM pilot at least runs on XRPL, which is more than most of the RLUSD activity can say at the moment.
BLOOM gives RLUSD a stamp of credibility from one of the world’s strictest regulators, but it won’t move the price of XRP on its own. The pilot runs on XRPL, bringing it closer to XRP than most of Ripple’s recent deals, but the settlement asset remains RLUSD and demand for the tokens remains indirect. For that to change, it is necessary to approve the Clarity Law. The SEC’s March 17 commodity classification is an interpretive publication, not federal law, and banks will not use XRP as a bridge asset at scale until legislation makes that classification permanent.
If the Clarity Act passes committee and RLUSD activity gradually moves to the XRP Ledger rather than remaining on Ethereum, the infrastructure Ripple is building through pilots like BLOOM will begin to matter for XRP. And that’s a process that could take years. BLOOM won’t be the catalyst on its own, but it is one more piece of infrastructure that needs to be in place before the price of XRP catches up with Ripple’s growth.
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