Ripple commits $200K for Japan grant to spark XRPL on-chain activity

Digital payments company Ripple wants to attract Japanese blockchain developers to the XRP Ledger with up to $200,000 in grants to build on the network. The firm disclosed this in a recent blog post.

According to the announcement, Ripple is partnering with the Web3 Salon project for the initiative, which focuses mostly on Web3 startups building digital payments, decentralized finance, and tokenized real-world assets (RWA) products in Japan.

Ripple said:

“This new collaboration reflects a shared commitment to nurturing Japan’s digital asset ecosystem—an environment known for its deep technical talent, strong regulatory frameworks, and increasing appetite for innovation in financial services and tokenized assets.”

The firm added that the selection of grant recipients would be based on several factors. These include their technical capabilities, growth potential, and how their products align with Ripple’s goal.

Interestingly, Ripple will manage the grant award process internally, noting that this would ensure strategic impact and allow the startups to access Ripple’s network.

However, Web3 Salon is responsible for supporting the founders and will provide the selected startups with all the opportunities, workshops, and mentorship to help them scale their operations. The Web3 Salon project is backed by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and prominent blockchain startup incubator, Asia Web3 Alliance Japan.

As part of the efforts to garner attention for the grant, Ripple and Web3 Salon plan to host four community events between June 2025 and March 2026, with the announcement stating that these events are designed to accelerate growth for the  Web3 ecosystem

Ripple seeks to increase XRPL usage by expanding its presence in Asia

Meanwhile, the move by Ripple appears to be part of the company’s efforts to expand the usage of XRPL and boost Ripple’s presence in the region. XRPL already has some presence in the region, with two awardees for Wave 7 of XRPL Grants, Moai Finance and VWBL, coming from Korea and Japan.

The company has also secured multiple regulatory approvals from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) for its digital payments service and RLUSD stablecoin, while it has partnerships with SBI Holdings and HashKey.

However, Ripple’s global presence has not translated into significant usage for the XRPL. The blockchain network has been around for over a decade but continues to see significantly fewer transactions than several smart contract networks.

A report of its transaction data from May shows that it had around 51 million transactions throughout the month, less than Solana’s daily count. Beyond XRPL’s low transaction volume, DeFi activity is significantly lower on the network, with less than 10% of active addresses involved in DeFi transactions during the month.

Unsurprisingly, Ripple is trying to improve those metrics and boost the XRPL ecosystem by attracting on-chain products from Asia to boost its user base. Last year, it launched the XRPL Japan and Korea Fund, and the recent initiative is part of the fund. The firm committed in 2022 to spend 1 billion XRP on supporting XRPL-based projects.

XRP sees a slight tick in value despite no gains in 2025

Meanwhile, efforts to boost XRPL usage could also benefit XRP, given that it is the native token for the network. As Ripple CTO David Schwartz said, the token has a privileged role in the XRPL ecosystem and is effective as a bridge asset.

So far this year, XRP has failed to replicate its late 2024 rally. This is likely because 2025 has been a tough year for altcoins, with the Altcoin index scoring at 29/100. However, the token remains one of the best-performing major cap altcoins year-to-date, with a significantly smaller percentage drop than ETH, SOL, and ADA.

XRP even increased slightly today and has gained almost 6% in value over the past seven days to trade at $2.269.  Still, it is down 2.29% YTD, and uncertainty remains due to the unresolved lawsuit between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple.

KEY Difference Wire helps crypto brands break through and dominate headlines fast