Ripple Expands Partnership with Mercy Corps to Promote Financial Inclusion

Ripple Labs is intensifying its efforts to support entrepreneurs and small businesses in emerging markets through its expanded partnership with Mercy Corps and the launch of the “Unlocking Opportunity” program.

This initiative aims to foster financial inclusion by providing grants up to $100,000 to businesses focused on areas such as remittances, savings, micropayments, and tokenizing real-world assets.

Ripple is particularly interested in projects that utilize the XRP Ledger and its upcoming RLUSD stablecoin to drive innovation in the fintech space.

So far, Ripple has committed over $5.5 million to Mercy Corps Ventures and helped fund 54 early-stage startups, nearly half of which have female co-founders.

While the timeline for the launch of RLUSD remains unclear, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse has emphasized that the stablecoin is integral to the company’s broader payment and financial inclusion strategy.

Testing for RLUSD is already underway on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchains, and regulatory approval remains a key hurdle before the stablecoin can be officially released.