Software engineer and AI founder Vincent Van Code (@vincent_vancode) is arguing that institutional barriers to holding and using XRP have largely shifted from “market structure” to “plumbing,” claiming Ripple has spent 2025–2026 assembling an institutional stack for custody, treasury, and prime brokerage that makes large-scale participation operationally viable.
In a post on X on Wednesday, the engineer framed self-custody as a non-starter for traditional allocators managing retirement pools, pensions, and bank balance sheets.
Ripple Assembles The XRP ‘Wall Street Kit’
“Institutions juggling billions in 401(k)s, pensions, hedge funds, banks & governments? Self-custody was always insane—audit hell, compliance nightmares, risk officers saying ‘no way,’” he wrote. “That changed in 2025–2026. Ripple built the full-stack bridge: regulated, scalable, bank-trusted infrastructure so big money can finally hold & use XRP + RLUSD without the chaos.”
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Van Code’s core contention is that the crypto-native custody debate misses the institutional reality: risk committees, auditors, and compliance functions require regulated custody, reporting, and controls that can plug into existing workflows. He argues Ripple’s recent buildout amounts to a “Wall Street kit” that addresses those constraints end-to-end, spanning payments rails, corporate treasury tooling, prime brokerage services, and bank-grade custody.
While the post is advocacy rather than a formal Ripple announcement, it reflects a view increasingly common among XRP supporters: that productized rails and regulated wrappers matter as much as market narratives when large allocators consider adding exposure or utility.
Van Code pointed to Ripple Payments as the transaction layer, describing it as “ISO 20022-compliant, real-time cross-border rails on XRPL—already moving billions for global banks.” He then tied institutional adoption to what he portrayed as adjacent infrastructure designed to make XRP and Ripple’s RLUSD workable inside corporate and financial-institution operations.
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Among the pieces he highlighted was GTreasury, which Ripple acquired for $1 billion, characterizing it as an enterprise treasury management platform enabling corporations to manage “fiat + digital liquidity in real-time.” He also cited Ripple Prime, described as being “powered by Hidden Road acquisition for $1.25B”, as a prime brokerage stack offering “clearing, financing & OTC trading—including XRP & RLUSD—with seamless XRPL settlement for faster, cheaper post-trade ops.”
For custody, he argued Ripple has converged on a bank-facing offering through a series of deals and integrations. “Ripple Custody (bolstered by Palisade acquisition + prior Standard Custody/Metaco) → Bank-grade, regulated storage with MPC security, multi-chain support & zero-trust architecture,” he wrote, adding that it is “auditable, insured, scalable for billions.” Van Code also claimed “RLUSD reserves [are] custodied by BNY Mellon for ultimate trust.”
The post’s conclusion was blunt about expected impact. “Bottom line: Excuses erased. Compliance baked in. Custody risk? Solved,” Van Code wrote. “Institutions aren’t just watching—they’re quietly stacking & building on XRPL. 2026 is the year XRP shifts from ‘spec play’ to core financial infrastructure. Billions incoming.”
If that thesis holds, the next signal for markets will not be rhetoric but observable integration: whether these components translate into sustained institutional flows, deeper liquidity venues, and production use of XRP and RLUSD, ultimately showing up in price discovery.
At press time, XRP traded at $2.15.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
