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Arf and Ripple have partnered to bring RLUSD-based settlement liquidity to licensed cross-border payment companies on the XRP Ledger. The arrangement centres on short-term working capital for payment flows.
In the first phase, Arf will provide direct RLUSD settlement liquidity on XRPL, giving payment companies access to funding while they wait for cross-border transactions to settle. The liquidity is typically repaid within one to five days, allowing capital to be reused across payment flows.
The move targets a longstanding issue in international payments. Companies handling card, remittance and other payment transactions often need to pre-fund activity across multiple markets, tying up working capital before settlement.
Traditional funding routes do not always fit that model. Bank credit lines can take months to arrange and often require collateral to stay in one place, while payment firms need liquidity that can move between markets as transaction demand shifts.
Arf, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, has grown to about USD $10 billion in annual global settlement volume since launching in late 2022. Its capital turns over four times a month.
The company positions itself within the emerging PayFi sector, or payment finance, which applies financing, treasury and related financial products to real-time payment flows. Here, the focus is settlement liquidity, which Arf and Ripple are bringing to XRPL through RLUSD.
RLUSD is Ripple's dollar stablecoin, while XRPL is the public blockchain associated with the XRP Ledger ecosystem. Ripple said the partnership combines a regulated dollar-backed token, a settlement network and a specialist provider of short-term payment finance.
Arf operates as a Swiss-regulated financial institution and is a member of VQF. Its model combines fiat and stablecoin treasury management with on-chain infrastructure for payment activity.
Ali Erhat Nalbant, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Arf, described the funding gap payment companies face while waiting for settlement.
"Payment companies need capital to keep money moving while they wait for funds to settle. We're meeting that need at scale, with $10 billion in annual settlement volume and capital turning over four times a month. Through this partnership with Ripple, we're bringing stablecoin working capital to the XRP Ledger to help payment companies bridge that gap and support more payment volume," said Ali Erhat Nalbant, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Arf.
Ripple said the arrangement reflects a practical use case for both the XRP Ledger and RLUSD, particularly in cross-border payments, where the timing of liquidity can be as important as the total amount of capital available.
"Settlement liquidity is exactly the kind of use case XRPL and RLUSD are built to support. Payment companies need fast access to capital across borders, without tying up significant amounts of liquidity. XRPL provides fast, efficient settlement, while RLUSD provides a regulated dollar stablecoin. Arf brings deep experience in PayFi, helping companies access short-term capital to keep payments moving while they wait for funds to settle," said Jasmine Cooper, Head of Product for RippleX at Ripple.
Native lending
The companies also outlined a next step tied to developing native lending infrastructure on XRPL. Once that infrastructure becomes available, Arf intends to move more of its settlement liquidity activity directly onto the protocol.
That would let Arf manage the capital used for this type of liquidity on-chain and deploy it through native lending functions, while underwriting and working capital decisions remain off-chain with Arf. The structure points to a hybrid approach, keeping regulated financial decision-making within the company's existing framework while increasingly handling funding distribution through protocol-level tools.
The partnership comes as stablecoins and blockchain-based payment systems seek commercial roles beyond trading markets. Cross-border payments have become a key area of interest because the sector depends heavily on liquidity management, foreign exchange and settlement timing across jurisdictions.
For payment companies, the central issue is not simply access to capital in aggregate, but whether funds are available in the right market at the right time. Arf said its model is designed around that operational requirement, with short-duration funding aligned to the settlement cycle of real payment transactions.