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XRP demand grows as Ripple expands real-world use cases

Written by Brie CarterPublished Jan. 18 2026Last Updated Jan. 18 2026

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XRP’s (CRYPTO:XRP) long-term investment narrative gained momentum after Ripple confirmed deeper collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley to advance institutional-grade development on the XRP Ledger.

The initiative focuses on moving blockchain projects from academic research into live or near-mainnet deployment, signalling broader enterprise adoption potential for XRPL.

Ripple outlined the expansion on January 16, framing the partnership as a step towards accelerating real-world utility across the XRP ecosystem.

Central to the effort is the University Digital Asset Xcelerator, a six-week programme designed to turn academic blockchain concepts into production-ready applications.

The accelerator operates as an extension of Ripple’s long-running University Blockchain Research Initiative, which supports blockchain education and applied research worldwide.

UC Berkeley and Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative launched a pilot programme to accelerate the transition from academic innovation to institutional XRP utility.

Ripple said.

The pilot programme opened with a launch summit in Berkeley and concluded with a demo day hosted at Ripple’s San Francisco headquarters.

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and chief technology officer emeritus David Schwartz addressed founders and developers during the closing demo day.

Startups presented progress updates to XRPL core developers, Ripple leadership, and representatives from 13 venture capital firms attending the event.

The fall 2025 pilot cohort at UC Berkeley included nine startups building directly on the XRP Ledger.

Participating teams worked across tokenised capital markets, decentralised insurance, payments infrastructure, and creator-economy platforms.

Ripple said its engineers collaborated closely with UC Berkeley faculty and industry mentors throughout the programme.

The hands-on approach aimed to move projects beyond proof-of-concept stages into live or near-production environments.

Several startups reported measurable traction during the six-week accelerator.

Wavetip completed migration to the XRPL mainnet and launched a browser extension via the Chrome Web Store.

X-Card onboarded more than $1.5 million worth of physical collectible inventory through merchant partnerships using XRPL infrastructure.

Blockbima tripled its active user base during the programme, according to figures shared by Ripple.

CRX Digital Assets expanded its tokenised Brazilian credit volume from $39 million to $58 million by leveraging Ripple’s global payments network.

Blockroll advanced development of stablecoin-backed virtual cards aimed at supporting African freelancers.

Additional teams finalised equity tokenisation frameworks and began generating early insurance-related revenues.

Ripple noted that several projects secured new strategic partnerships and refined their go-to-market strategies during the accelerator.

The company described the combined outcomes as strengthening the XRP ecosystem through practical deployment rather than theoretical experimentation.

Ripple said the programme aligns academic research, startup execution, and enterprise blockchain infrastructure around real-world utility.

The expanded collaboration adds to broader expectations that increased on-ledger activity could drive long-term demand for XRP.

At the time of reporting, XRP price was $2.05.