Ripple-linked token sitting idle in wallets now gets easier DeFi access

XRP has a liquidity problem that has nothing to do with price: More than 2 billion tokens, or about 3.5% of the circulating supply, aren’t actually circulating.

The tokens, valued around $3 billion, are held in wallets from Xaman, and are largely locked out of decentralized finance (DeFi). To access DeFi means downloading new wallets, bridging assets across chains, managing gas tokens and navigating unfamiliar interfaces. Most holders never bothered.

Now, Xaman said it has reached an agreement with the Flare blockchain that will reduce the process into a single transaction, allowing users to deposit their XRP directly into a curated vault on the Flare blockchain.

The system rests on three components working in the background.

First are FAssets, which create a trust-minimized representation of XRP on Flare — effectively a wrapped version of the token that can interact with smart contracts. Then come Flare Smart Accounts, which abstract away the need for users to manage a second wallet. Instead of juggling private keys across chains, users authorize transactions with their existing XRPL credentials. Finally, Xaman acts as the front-end, embedding the process directly inside the wallet many XRP holders already use.

From the user’s perspective, the process is reduced to a single action. Behind the scenes, the transaction carries detailed instructions. Flare’s Data Connector validates the request, while Smart Account controllers handle the minting of the wrapped asset, allocation into vault strategies and any subsequent yield distribution. What would typically require bridging assets, acquiring gas tokens and interacting with multiple decentralized applications is compressed into one workflow.

“This integration lets our users explore new options directly from the wallet they already know, while keeping full control of their keys and decisions,” said Wietse Wind, founder of Xaman, in a statement to CoinDesk.

The vault strategies themselves are managed by Upshift and curated by Clearstar, which oversee capital deployment and risk management. While specific yield targets were not disclosed, the strategies are built around familiar DeFi primitives such as lending markets, collateralized positions and structured products.

There are early signs that XRP holders are willing to experiment. Flare’s FXRP — its existing wrapped XRP token — has surpassed 100 million in minted supply, with more than 60 million currently deployed across staking programs and structured products. That growth suggests at least some appetite for putting XRP to work, rather than leaving it idle.

The broader backdrop makes the timing notable. XRP rose 6% earlier this week amid a 212% spike in retail buying volume, and exchange-traded fund inflows have remained positive since their November launch. Yet much of that activity reflects directional bets on price.

For XRP’s DeFi ambitions — sometimes dubbed “XRPFi” — the bigger challenge has been usability, not demand. If billions of dollars’ worth of tokens are effectively stranded by friction, lowering that friction may matter more than another rally. Infrastructure that turns passive holdings into productive capital could determine whether XRP’s DeFi narrative evolves beyond branding.