In a calculated shift away from traditional quarterly disclosures, Ripple Labs has officially retired its long-standing XRP Markets Report, replacing it with a more agile, real-time reporting strategy.
This move reflects the company’s post-litigation pivot following its high-profile legal victory against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and marks a new phase in Ripple’s corporate communications and regulatory alignment.
First introduced in 2017, the XRP Markets Report was designed to give investors, regulators, and the broader crypto community insights into Ripple’s XRP holdings and market activity.
But going forward, those reports will no longer be published in their previous format. Instead, Ripple has committed to releasing updates through its website and social media platforms, providing more timely and flexible access to information.
Regulatory Caution Meets Strategic Innovation
The change is not merely cosmetic—it reflects a deeper recalibration of Ripple’s regulatory and public engagement strategy. In an official statement, Ripple noted that elements of its historical disclosures were used against it during the SEC litigation, reinforcing the need to reassess how transparency can be maintained without increasing legal vulnerability.
“The lawsuit taught us that transparency, while essential, must be framed in a way that protects rather than penalizes responsible actors,” a Ripple spokesperson said in a recent investor Q&A. “We’ve evolved our model to reflect both legal realities and modern communication standards.”
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also weighed in, confirming via X (formerly Twitter) that the changes reflect not a rollback of transparency but a smarter, faster, and more effective means of delivering information.
“Q1’25 was an incredible quarter for Ripple—with our acquisition of Hidden Road and the end of the SEC case—not to mention growing institutional demand for XRP ETPs globally. Moving forward, our XRP updates will come directly via our platforms,” Garlinghouse posted.
Ripple’s Strategic Landscape Broadens with Hidden Road Acquisition
The shift in reporting aligns with a broader strategic transformation at Ripple. In Q1 2025, Ripple finalized the $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, a prime brokerage platform catering to institutional investors.
The acquisition significantly expands Ripple’s capabilities in cross-border settlements, on-chain liquidity provisioning, and stablecoin deployment—including its recently launched RLUSD, a fully backed USD stablecoin native to the XRP Ledger.
Industry analysts view this acquisition as a clear move to establish Ripple as a full-stack institutional player, challenging legacy rails in global finance.
“Hidden Road is Ripple’s bridge to deep institutional liquidity,” said crypto market strategist Elaine Hsu. “Pair that with RLUSD and growing XRP ETPs in Europe and Asia, and Ripple is positioning itself more like a digital-native central clearing house than a simple remittance company.”
Policy Tailwinds: U.S. Regulatory Climate Begins to Favor Digital Assets
Ripple’s disclosure redesign also comes amid a shift in the U.S. regulatory climate. With several bipartisan bills now advancing in Congress, including the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), the stage is being set for a more constructive digital asset framework.
This clarity has emboldened Ripple and similar firms to adopt more adaptive communications and governance models that don’t wait for quarterly cycles to engage stakeholders. Instead, they mirror best practices seen in traditional finance and Web3-native DAOs, with on-demand updates, open APIs, and real-time metrics.
Transparency Reimagined for a New Era
Critics of the old XRP Markets Report claimed it was too infrequent to provide true clarity and too detailed to avoid being used as a cudgel in enforcement actions. Ripple’s new model attempts to strike a balance—continuing its leadership in industry transparency while avoiding unnecessary legal exposure.
The updates will now be centralized under a newly designed “XRP Markets Dashboard” set to launch later this year, offering:
- Real-time XRP circulation and escrow metrics
- RLUSD issuance and redemption rates
- Institutional adoption milestones
- Developer ecosystem growth metrics
- Cross-border volume heatmaps
Final Thoughts: A Strategic Exit from the Disclosure Trap
Ripple’s revised communication strategy is more than just a legal adjustment—it’s a signal of institutional maturity. As global finance adapts to blockchain infrastructure, Ripple’s pivot underscores the necessity of evolving with regulatory winds while staying grounded in transparency and investor trust.
With the SEC case behind it and new institutional infrastructure in place, Ripple is no longer just defending XRP—it’s actively scaling its use in real-world finance. And it’s doing so with a playbook rewritten for the next wave of digital asset adoption.
