Mastercard has expanded its partnership with Ripple, and there have been developments regarding ETF changes. A recent update from the XRP Ledger Foundation announced the participation of the TradFi giant, known for its longstanding relationship with Ripple, in a hackathon scheduled just prior to the significant conference, Ripple Swell. Meanwhile, 21Shares’s XRP ETF has adjusted its pricing methodology for the underlying token in response to a resurgence of inflows into all such funds. The XRP Ledger Foundation expressed its enthusiasm in welcoming a prominent player in the payments industry as a sponsor of the XRP Ledger Hackathon, set to take place in late October.
There is a 36-hour pre-event scheduled for the Ripple Swell 2026 conference, which will take place from October 27 to October 29. The hackathon is set to occur on October 24-25. This announcement follows closely on the heels of Mastercard’s recent expansion of its relationship with the broader Ripple ecosystem, along with other prominent players in the cryptocurrency space. As reported in March, the TradFi firm enlisted several industry companies, including Binance, Gemini, PayPal, Paxos, Circle, and Ripple, in a new partnership program aimed at connecting blockchain with its extensive global payments infrastructure.
In June, Mastercard advanced its blockchain integration by incorporating new support assets, including Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, and Circle’s USDC. An SEC filing revealed that 21Shares has altered the pricing of the underlying assets for its XRP ETF, transitioning from the CME Group to the newly established FTSE XRP Index, effective today. The other notable change to their financial vehicle indicates that the sponsor will receive compensation on a quarterly basis rather than weekly. More importantly, the sponsor will receive compensation in XRP.
Meanwhile, the spot XRP ETFs have continued their remarkable trend of net inflows, drawing in $13.82 million on Monday, $24 million on Tuesday, and just over $28 million on Wednesday. TOXR, however, remains the only XRP ETF in the red, with cumulative net flows of -$20.06 million. In contrast, Bitwise’s XRP ETF stands out as the largest among its peers, currently boasting $575 million in cumulative net inflows.
