Key stakeholders in the Ripple-backed XRPL ecosystem want the chain optimized to drive institutional DeFi strategies and capital deployment similar to Ethereum’s yield vaults. In a recent statement Evernorth, one of the top XRP treasury firms, said it will make the upcoming ‘XRP Lending Protocol’ its core digital asset strategy. “It’s (lending protocol) what we believe could be a fundamental shift in how institutional liquidity moves onchain.” According to Asheesh Birla, CEO at Enernorth, the move will further drive XRP DeFi. “By participating in this native lending ecosystem, Evernorth aims to help unlock what could be a multi-billion-dollar annual yield opportunity for the XRP community.”
For XRP DeFi, the upgrade, also known as XLS-66, is currently on a testnet and seeks to enable single-asset vaults to drive fixed-rate loans. The XRPL DeFi ecosystem has seen some traction since 2025, but lags behind its top rivals; DeFi TVL stands at around $60 million versus $6.5 billion on BNB Chain and $9.3 billion on Solana. Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD is among the fastest-growing and recently crossed above $1 billion in supply. On the market front, 42 wallets with over 1 million XRP tokens have returned for the first time since September, a signal Santiment described as encouraging for the long-term prospects of the asset.
Yet the 30-day XRPL Whale Flow shows large holders are still net sellers, though the pace has eased in January. If the metric neutralizes or turns positive, XRP could stage a price recovery; at press time it traded around $1.7 while investors await the next directional move. Evernorth bets on the lending protocol upgrade as a key DeFi unlock, and XRP whales show mixed signals, underscoring a cautious path ahead.
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