Ripple continues to invest in cross-chain infrastructure. The cross-chain routing protocol Squid has completed a $6 million funding round, with Ripple participating. The protocol currently connects over 100 blockchains and has routed over $6 billion in cumulative transaction volume.
This funding round is not just a typical investment—it also reflects Ripple’s further strategic shift in positioning the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Rather than viewing XRPL as a relatively independent on-chain ecosystem, Ripple now aims for it to serve as a settlement and liquidity channel within a multi-chain environment.
Squid has been deployed on over 100 chains.
Other participants in this funding round include Dialectic, Borderless, Scenius Capital, Altos, and Arche Capital. According to the article, Squid has already provided routing services across multiple major blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin, Cosmos, and XRPL.
Squid's core design is an "intent-based" execution model. Users don't need to manually cross-chain, switch platforms, or manage bridging processes themselves—instead, they simply specify the desired action, and the system automatically selects the optimal path, secures liquidity, and completes settlement.
The article states that this process is carried out collaboratively by market makers and trusted execution environments, aiming to compress complex cross-chain operations into a single, more transaction-like experience.
Ripple bets on multi-chain settlement scenarios
From Ripple’s perspective, this investment is more like an early strategic positioning in multi-chain infrastructure. As demand for asset movement between different blockchains grows, the market is increasingly seeking protocols that unify liquidity and simplify execution pathways.
The article argues that value is concentrating toward infrastructure capable of connecting different ecosystems, rather than serving only a single network. Ripple’s involvement with Squid signals its desire for XRPL to participate in these cross-chain capital flow pathways, rather than remaining confined within its own ecosystem.
The funds will be used to expand application deployment.
The article mentions that Squid has processed millions of transactions and is beginning to attract increased interest from businesses. The new funding is expected to help it advance products more oriented toward everyday users, making cross-chain operations less noticeable on the frontend.
If this direction continues, the future competition among blockchains may no longer focus solely on building isolated ecosystems, but rather on routing, liquidity, and settlement capabilities within an interconnected network. For XRPL, this means its role may increasingly lie in the underlying infrastructure rather than competing at the application layer.
Additional information: The article also mentions that XRPL has recently entered the top four in the RWA chain rankings. However, the focus of this article remains on Ripple’s use of Squid to enhance XRPL’s connectivity within cross-chain networks.