Arf, a Swiss-regulated provider of short-term working capital, has struck a strategic partnership with Ripple. The goal is to supply settlement liquidity on the XRP Ledger to licensed cross-border payment companies.
The partnership was announced on October 22, 2026. It runs on RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin. The pitch is simple: payment firms get fast, short-lived capital without parking cash in destination accounts ahead of time.
What Arf and Ripple are actually building
Arf’s business is filling the pre-funding gap. It lends to licensed payment firms for very short windows, typically 1 to 5 days, so they can complete settlements without pre-funding the receiving end.
Under the Ripple deal, that capital will be delivered in RLUSD directly on the XRP Ledger, often shortened to XRPL. The payment firm borrows stablecoin liquidity, settles the transaction, and repays once its own funds land.
The rollout comes in phases. The first phase covers direct RLUSD liquidity provision on XRPL. Later phases are planned to plug into XRPL’s native lending features once those are fully operational.
The numbers behind Arf
Arf reports processing approximately $10 billion in annual settlement volume.
Its capital turns over roughly 4 to 4.8 times per month. The company also reports a 0% default rate across more than 1,400 days of operations.
Arf is regulated in Switzerland as a member of VQF, a Swiss self-regulatory organization. It serves only licensed institutions. The company was founded in 2019. It has offices in Zug, Istanbul, London, and New York.
From Stellar to the XRP Ledger
This is not Arf’s first blockchain home. The company previously operated on the Stellar network, and in 2024 it merged with Huma Finance, a move that expanded its operational reach.
The early market response was measured. The announcement did not line up with significant trading or price moves in related tokens.
What this means for payment firms and Ripple
The most direct stakeholders are licensed money service businesses handling cross-border transfers. Pre-funding is expensive because capital sits idle in accounts waiting for transactions. If short-term RLUSD liquidity can replace some of that idle cash, these firms could free up money for other uses.
The timeline for XRPL’s native lending features will shape how quickly the second phase arrives. Until those features are fully operational, the deal stays in its simpler first form.
Arf’s model only works because its customers are licensed, and its own Swiss oversight is part of the pitch. Any changes in how regulators treat stablecoin-based credit could affect how far this kind of arrangement can scale.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.