Ripple announced The acquisition of two money channels (MTLs) in New York and Texas, crucial states for its cross -border payment solutions.
The newly acquired licenses in Texas and New York bring the total number of Ripple MTLs in the US to 31. The company has also announced that it would double its recruitment efforts this year as part of its expansion plans.
Both Texas and New York are known for their robust compliance frameworks, whereby the Bitlicense and Limited Purpose Trust Company Charter of the last single of the highest regulatory standards in the financial sector.
Joanie Xie, director of Ripple for North America, stated:
“Financial institutions and crypto companies increasingly access the benefits of blockchain for faster, cost-efficient and 24/7 cross-border payments. Ripple’s experience in both crypto and financial services makes us uniquely positioned to support institutions that are ready to take advantage of this landscape. “
The US received nearly $ 900 billion in crypto between 2023 and 2024, according to the “2024 geography of Crypto Report from Chainalysis”. It is the largest country in this statistics.
Retail investors in particular are increasingly using crypto payments. An EY-Partthenon questionnaire From more than 1,000 crypto retail investors revealed that 29% of respondents used crypto for payments in 2024, a jump of 6% from 2022.
Combined these statistics suggest that the US is a potential market for exploring crypto payments. In addition, Ripple also doubles his American presence, with 75% of his open positions in his own country.
The company is also preparing for integrating its Enterprise-Grade Stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), later this year in its payment platform to further improve the cross-border transaction efficiency.
According to a cryptoquant dashboard, RLUSD market capitalization grew by 42% since the official launch on December 17 and reached nearly $ 100 million.
The recruitment of the company has doubled compared to 2023, and it has recently expanded its offices in San Francisco and New York to accommodate its growing workforce.
The expansion of Ripple comes in the midst of a rapid evolution of the regulations in the US. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deployed SAB 121, a rule that would have imposed restrictive requirements on banks that offer crypto guardianship services.
This was the first action of the SECs Newly created Crypto Task ForceLed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as “Crypto Mom” for her positive attitude towards Crypto.