XRP Gets Wrapped by Tokensoft for Ethereum DeFi Debut

Is the XRP Army ready to storm Ethereum?

Announced Friday, Wrapped XRP (wXRP), a digital asset backed 1:1 by XRP, will make the cross-chain jump into Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) starting in December, courtesy of Wrapped and Hong Kong-based crypto custodian Hex Trust.

The new connectivity for XRP holders will allow access to various DeFi applications, whether that’s lending and borrowing, or for use in automated market makers (AMMs), said Mason Borda, CEO of Tokensoft, the driving force behind Wrapped.

Making XRP DeFi-compatible in the form of wXRP is a first, said Borda. Wrapped has previously wrapped a range of tokens including bitcoin, zcash and filecoin, among others.

“We do a lot of these wrapped tokens, but we just think this wrapped XRP asset is going to be huge,” Borda said in an interview. “It’s a top ten digital asset and has one of the biggest communities in crypto.”

The XRP Ledger, for its part, has been talking about adding DeFi capabilities to its blockchain via federated sidechains, so the anticipation for greater XRP functionality is already lit among the payment token’s sprawling army of supporters.

Wrapped started out as a collaboration between San Francisco-based Tokensoft and Anchorage, the U.S. regulated crypto custodian, and the two firms have created wrapped versions of nine digital tokens.

Now, Wrapped appears to be spreading its wings and taking a multi-custodian approach to provide interoperability bridging to a wider array of digital assets and tokens.

“Not all custodians support all assets,” Borda said. “So working with multiple custodians opens up the door to a greater selection for users of wrapped assets and just building a more vibrant ecosystem.”