Ripple, a San Francisco-based blockchain payments company currently embroiled in litigation against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has launched a US$250 million “creator fund” for content creators, brands and marketplaces to build non-fungible token (NFT) use cases on the XRP Ledger, according to a company blog post.
Fast facts
- Ripple’s latest move to expand uses for XRP-related technology comes amid its push to bring NFTs to the XRP Ledger to tap into the lucrative and growing NFT market as well as grow its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) payments business around the world.
- In the U.S., Ripple has been fighting the SEC tooth and nail in court over a $1.38 billion lawsuit that the enforcement agency filed last year against the company and two of its top executives. The lawsuit alleges that their sale of XRP was a violation of securities laws.
- As part of its latest NFT initiative, Ripple will provide creators with financial, marketing, technical and creative support for their NFT projects, according to the company. Ripple has partnered with NFT marketplaces mintNFT and Mintable, which will have early access to the fund to integrate their platforms with the XRP Ledger. Creative agency VSA Partners is also participating in the initiative to help its clients create and sell their NFTs.
- “While NFTs have opened the door for a tokenized future, actually navigating these concepts is a different ball game for many,” said Monica Long, general manager of RippleX at Ripple, in a statement. “By starting with marketplaces and creators, our fund seeks to take the guesswork out of NFT projects to unlock unexplored tokenization use cases on the XRP Ledger.”