- Ripple is expanding its operations in Brazil with an integrated platform for banks and fintechs
- The company plans to apply for a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license with the Central Bank of Brazil
- The platform will combine payments, custody, brokerage, and treasury services
New platform for banks and fintechs
Blockchain payments company Ripple Labs is significantly expanding its operations in Brazil. In an official press release dated March 17, 2026, the company announced that it will combine cross-border payments, digital asset custody, brokerage services, and treasury solutions into one integrated platform for banks and fintechs. This positions Ripple as the only provider in the region able to offer institutional clients the full range of digital financial services in a single package.
As part of the expansion, Ripple plans to apply for a Virtual Asset Service Provider license with Brazil’s central bank, Banco Central do Brasil. In November 2025, Brazil introduced a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto service providers through Resolutions 519, 520, and 521, which came into force on February 2, 2026. Existing providers must apply for authorization by October 29, 2026. Ripple President Monica Long described Latin America as a priority market and pointed to Brazil’s advanced financial ecosystem.
Major partners already onboard
Several Brazilian financial institutions are already using Ripple’s infrastructure. Banco Genial, for example, processes same-day US dollar payouts through the Ripple network. Braza Bank, one of the country’s largest foreign exchange trading firms, uses the payments platform for FX flows and has also issued a Brazilian real-backed stablecoin on the XRP Ledger. Fintech company Nomad, which says it serves more than three million users, uses Ripple for treasury flows between Brazil and the United States, with settlement via stablecoins.
Ripple is also active in digital asset custody in Brazil. Partner companies CRX and Justoken rely on the company’s custody solution. CRX has already processed nearly $100 million in tokenized assets through the XRP Ledger, while Justoken accounts for more than $1.7 billion in tokenized value. Ripple’s own US dollar stablecoin, RLUSD (Ripple USD), has reached a market capitalization of around $1.5 billion and is already supported by Brazilian exchanges and fintechs such as Mercado Bitcoin, Foxbit, and Ripio.
Billion-dollar acquisitions as the foundation
The Brazil push is part of a broader growth strategy. In April 2025, Ripple announced the acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. In October 2025, it followed with the purchase of treasury management specialist GTreasury for $1 billion, as the company stated in a separate press release dated October 16, 2025. The Hidden Road deal led to the creation of Ripple Prime, a division that offers institutional clients clearing, brokerage, and financing services across asset classes and processes more than $3 trillion in annual transaction volume.
Overall, Ripple says it has processed more than $100 billion in payment volume through its network. In addition, the company launched a share buyback program of up to $750 million, valuing Ripple at around $50 billion, according to a Bloomberg report published on March 11, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter. As recently as November 2025, a funding round involving subsidiaries of Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group had valued the company at $40 billion.
