Ripple may be racking up partnerships, but not everyone in the XRP community is celebrating. A prominent crypto influencer has publicly confronted Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, voicing growing frustration among XRP holders who have waited years for the company’s expanding business footprint to translate into meaningful gains for the token.
The criticism came shortly after Ripple unveiled a new tie-up with global brokerage infrastructure provider DriveWealth. The collaboration is designed to strengthen digital asset services across payments, settlement, custody, and institutional financing, marking another step in Ripple’s push to expand its presence in traditional finance.
XRP Army Grows Restless as Ripple’s Partnership Machine Keeps Rolling
In a post on X, John Squire argued that XRP holders were growing weary of Ripple’s steady stream of partnership announcements without seeing tangible benefits for the token itself.
“The XRP community is tired,” Squire opined. “We’ve spent years watching Ripple announce partnership after partnership. Yet morale across the XRP community is at rock bottom. We believe in the vision, but people need to see that progress reflected in XRP itself. Hope needs results, Brad.”
His remarks reflect a recurring frustration among XRP investors who question why Ripple’s expanding business operations have yet to translate into stronger price performance for the payments-focused cryptocurrency.
At $1.31, XRP is down roughly 5.1% over the past 24 hours and nearly 30% since the beginning of the year. The token briefly climbed to $1.70 in August before surrendering those gains, leaving investors waiting for a sustained recovery.
XRP’s prolonged struggle to break into higher price territory has further tested holders’ patience, particularly as Bitcoin has climbed to six-figure valuations. For many XRP supporters, the central question is whether Ripple’s growing influence in the financial sector will eventually translate into meaningful upside for the token.
Ripple, meanwhile, continues to expand its institutional footprint through high-profile partnerships and multibillion-dollar acquisition deals, highlighting the growing gap between the company’s business momentum and XRP’s recent market performance.
Ripple Makes Major Play for Global Investment Infrastructure With New DriveWealth Deal
Ripple has teamed up with DriveWealth to bring stablecoin settlement, cross-border payment capabilities, and digital asset custody to its brokerage infrastructure. The rollout will begin in Europe, with plans to extend the services to the U.S. market later.
The deal will leverage Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, enabling DriveWealth clients to fund and manage collateral accounts using stablecoins that can be converted into cash almost instantly. The two companies are also exploring equity financing opportunities through Ripple Prime, potentially broadening the partnership beyond payments and settlement.
The DriveWealth deal adds to Ripple’s growing push to embed RLUSD into institutional financial services. Earlier this week, Standard Chartered introduced custody services for RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, while Ripple and LMAX Group previously agreed to expand institutional stablecoin adoption through a $150 million financing deal.
Ripple has also partnered with Stripe-owned Privy to bring embedded wallets to XRPL, giving developers a simpler way to integrate blockchain-based services into their applications.
These recent deals signal that Ripple’s ambitions stretch far beyond crypto payments. As RLUSD gains traction across institutional finance, the big question is whether this growing adoption will eventually translate into stronger demand for XRP and a lasting boost to its price.