Uphold President Shares Two Reasons Retail and Institutions Are Showing Interest in XRP

Uphold President Nancy Beaton recently explained why investors are paying attention to $XRP, specifically highlighting the retail and institutional side.

Beaton discussed this during a special edition of Ripple’s “Crypto in a Minute,” renamed “$XRP in a Minute” for the occasion, while speaking from the just-concluded $XRP Las Vegas (XRPLV) event.

Key Points

• Uphold’s Nancy Beaton shared two reasons investors continue to show interest in $XRP.
• On the retail side, Beaton mentioned the upcoming ability to earn yield natively on the XRPL.
• For the enterprise aspect, she called attention to growing interest around tokenization and institutional crypto adoption.
• The $XRP Ledger has continued to make advancements toward native yield and RWA tokenization this year.

Why Retail Shows Interest in $XRP

Beaton noted that based on what she saw and heard at the XRPLV event, interest mainly comes from two areas: retail investors and institutional players.

ripple:native is capturing attention worldwide.

The $XRP community has its reasons. Institutions have theirs.@UpholdInc President Nancy @BeatonBoulder breaks down both in the latest $XRP In One Minute: https://t.co/HQZjZQFDPU pic.twitter.com/AnNF8LQVot

— RippleX (@RippleXDev) May 18, 2026

For retail investors, Beaton mentioned the expected ability to earn returns directly on $XRP. This idea relates to new features being developed on the $XRP Ledger, specifically the XLS-66 Lending Protocol, which works alongside XLS-65 for Single Asset Vaults.

These tools would allow users to lend their $XRP through built-in systems on the XRPL. Specifically, investors could place their funds into pooled vaults, including ones focused on $XRP or stablecoins like $RLUSD.

From there, borrowers could access structured or even uncollateralized loans with fixed interest rates, set repayment terms, and protections such as first-loss capital coverage. The goal is to give users a way to earn passive income and keep control of their assets on-chain.

At press time, the XLS-66d amendment had entered validator voting after the release of XRPL v3.1.0 in late January 2026. To go live, it needs 80% approval for two straight weeks. At the moment, it stands at 22.86%, which is still far from the required level.

Despite this, interest is already building. Notably, Evernorth has publicly said it plans to use the system and has pointed to the possibility of multi-billion-dollar yearly returns for the $XRP community.

Other parts of the ecosystem also support the trend. Specifically, the automated market maker feature, introduced through XLS-30 in 2024, already lets users earn fees by providing liquidity.

Why Institutions Show Interest in $XRP

Beaton also highlighted interest from institutions. She stressed that this interest is due to traditional financial firms moving toward blockchain technology, and the XRPL sits in a position to benefit.

The $XRP Ledger stands out in this area because it supports tokenization directly, processes transactions quickly, keeps costs low, and includes built-in compliance features. These strengths match what institutions need as they explore tokenizing real-world assets and moving operations on-chain.

The XRPL has continued to see growth in tokenized RWA, with the network adding $1.4 billion within the past 30 days to reach $3.9 billion. This made XRPL the fastest-growing network in the real-world asset space during this period.

Several major partnerships have materialized in this area. For instance, Archax has provided tokenized access to abrdn’s £3.8 billion liquidity fund. In addition, Ondo Finance has launched its OUSG product, which represents tokenized U.S. Treasuries, on XRPL with $RLUSD integration.