A recurring criticism of XRP, that it ranks far behind other blockchains on public tokenization league tables, misses what the token is actually built to do, according to commentary from Apex Crypto and a co-host discussing the topic on a recent podcast.
Their argument centers on a distinction between tokenization platforms and settlement instruments, and it raises a genuinely interesting question for anyone trying to evaluate XRP against blockchains ranked purely by tokenized asset volume.
Tokenization Ranking Pushback
The discussion was sparked by online criticism pointing out that XRP ranks around 10th in public tokenization data. Apex Crypto argued that public tokenization figures miss an entire category of activity. He said that private central bank digital currency platforms are built on private versions of the XRP Ledger. Apex Crypto claimed Ripple’s website has described this CBDC platform since 2021.
XRP as a “Settlement Instrument,” Not a Tokenized Asset
The core of the argument is that XRP’s role is fundamentally different from platforms being ranked on how much tokenized real-world value they host. According to the discussion, XRP functions as a transmission layer, the asset used to move value between different tokenized asset types, rather than a platform that itself needs to host tokenized assets.
The Liquidity Thesis
Central to the argument is a claim that institutional use of XRP for cross-border settlement, once fully active, would require institutions to hold significant XRP reserves for liquidity purposes, pulling supply out of circulation.
Both acknowledged that Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity corridors are not yet operating at full capacity, framing current XRP price action and RLUSD’s growing revenue as distractions from this longer-term liquidity thesis rather than evidence against it.
An Unverified Federal Reserve Anecdote
The discussion also referenced a secondhand account of a former Federal Reserve official discussing XRP during what was described as an “off the record” panel appearance, allegedly citing Malaysia’s central bank as an example of an institution that would hold XRP to settle transactions with another country.
