Ripple incubator and investment arm Xpring has spent $500 million on XRP projects since its launch in May 2018, according to an official blog post on July 2.
These funds have reportedly been distributed to over 20 companies, including the blockchain-based gaming platform Forte.
In general, the report says that Xpring investments are intended to create use cases for Ripple’s XRP token. They hope to accomplish this by making development easier, and say they are supporting developers by providing “tools, libraries and services for developers on the XRP Ledger and Interledger protocols.”
Additionally, Xpring is reportedly taking a two-pronged approach to creating more use cases, through infrastructure development and innovative projects. As examples of infrastructure development, they cited a contribution to the XRP Ledger and Interledger protocols, i.e. the native Ripple ledger and a protocol for blockchain interoperability.
The announcement briefly notes that Xpring is also focused on decentralized finance, and will look to invest in crypto-based solutions for aspects of finance like debt and derivatives.
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, ex-Facebook Developer Network director Ethan Beard was appointed as the Senior Vice President of Xpring and Ripple’s developer program. It was also noted that Ripple would finance Xpring, although Xpring would operate independently from Ripple.
On July 2, former Ripple executive Catherine Coley was hired as the CEO of BAM Trading Services, the operator of Binance US — a new, United States-exclusive branch of Binance. Coley previously worked as a liquidity management expert at Ripple from 2017 to 2019, with the recent title of Head of XRP Institutional Liquidity.