Making waves- Ripple Q&A with Cassie Craddock

Stablecoin platform Ripple has been making headlines in 2025, winning its long-standing case with the Securities and Exchange Commission and clinching a multi-billion takeover. BLINC asked Cassie Craddock, Ripple UK and Europe Managing Director, for her thoughts on changing regulation and the importance of the group’s acquisition of Hidden Road.

Q: At Money 20/20 Europe 2024 you talked about the need for regulatory standardisation. A year on, what are your reflections on those hopes for standardisation? 

A: Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) was an important first step in bringing regulatory standardisation across the EU and creating comprehensive rules for cryptoassets. Beyond sending an important signal around the world on the importance of coordinated regulation, the creation of one harmonised set of rules across the whole of the European Union, a market of 450 million potential consumers is very beneficial for the industry. There are certainly some elements of MiCA that could be improved, but ultimately this type of harmonisation is positive, giving banks and financial institutions the confidence to lean in to build digital asset custody and tokenisation capabilities, working with crypto natives like Ripple.

Blockchain is inherently global, and clear regulations are a key differentiator to attract investment. Comprehensive and consistent regulation is essential to unlock international investment, enable real-world utility and foster innovation in a rapidly growing industry. Jurisdictions like Singapore and the UAE are making good progress on this, and the US is playing rapid catch up. For the UK this provides a fresh impetus to ensure that it is keeping pace when it comes to its own regulatory frameworks. It also really highlights the importance of international collaboration – between policymakers in different jurisdictions to avoid market fragmentation, and between industry and regulators to ensure rules are proportionate.

Q: How does the divergence of regulation between the US and Europe impact you as the European MD of an American group? 

A: Since President Trump’s inauguration, the US has sent a clear message that it is open for business, and supportive of blockchain and crypto adoption. It’s encouraging to see the current administration and Congress working towards clear rules of the road for the crypto industry. 

Even as the regulatory landscape becomes more favourable in the US, I’ve personally remained laser-focused on building Ripple’s business and operations in the UK & Europe. This won’t change. If anything, the improving outlook in the US reinforces our optimism for the broader crypto outlook. There is immense opportunity for the global crypto industry to continue building cutting-edge technologies to solve real problems that exist in all parts of the world. 

We expect 2025 to be a landmark year for crypto. The EU’s MiCA regulation has taken effect, and the UK is advancing its draft legislation for crypto asset regulation. We are seeing real momentum here. However, the different approaches and acceleration in different jurisdictions’ efforts underline the need for continued engagement from UK and European authorities to maintain an internationally competitive industry and continued technological innovation in this region.

Q: How does the acquisition of (prime broker) Hidden Road Partners fit into Ripple’s overall strategy? And what does Ripple bring to Hidden Road? 

A: This acquisition will deliver a step change in growth across both of our businesses. Hidden Road is set to benefit from Ripple’s resources, balance sheet and licenses to enable it to scale exponentially. For Ripple, the acquisition will cement the position of our stablecoin, RLUSD, as an enterprise-grade digital asset with real utility. It will also reinforce the position of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) as the go-to blockchain for institutional DeFi. 

Hidden Road was already clearing USD10 billion a day and processing over 50 million transactions across the XRPL late last year, so bringing post-trade activity like FX, derivatives and swaps to the ledger will streamline its operations and lower its costs. It will use RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage products, making our stablecoin the first to enable efficient cross-margining between the digital asset space and traditional markets. 

We will also see close integration between Hidden Road and Ripple’s custody and payments offerings. Hidden Road’s clients engage with digital assets every day, meaning they require bank-grade crypto custody technology. There is a huge opportunity to address that demand. When it comes to payments, our customers stand to benefit from Hidden Road’s extensive relationships with OTC and major trading venues, enabling Ripple’s payments customers to benefit from improved pricing and global liquidity.

Q: What are the current key areas of growth and developments for Ripple? 

A: Real-world asset tokenisation is a key strategic focus for our business as we see heightened demand from institutions to bring their financial assets on-chain. Our recent tokenisation report, published with BCG, reveals that the market is set to grow exponentially reaching an USD18.9 trillion market cap by 2033 – as participants recognise the operational benefits that the technology can offer, as well as innovative new means of distributing financial products, such as fractional ownership.

To help our clients and partners capitalise on this opportunity, we have developed a purpose-built bank-grade custody solution specifically designed for enable financial institutions to tokenise and manage a wide range of assets, including cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, and real-world assets. Customers like Société Générale Forge are already using our service and are in the process of issuing their euro-denominated stablecoin EURCV on the XRPL using our custody technology. 

We are continuing to work with a number of industry partners to bring real world assets (RWAs) onto the XRPL. Working with Archax, the UK’s first FCA-regulated digital asset exchange broker and custodian, and UK asset manager Aberdeen, we have brought tokenised money market funds onto the XRPL. Likewise, our collaboration with Ondo Finance, a leading tokenised RWA issuer, has seen tokenised US Treasuries arrive on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), expanding the breadth of institutional-grade products onchain.