Ripple Makes Major LME Hire as $19 Trillion Tokenization Market Takes Shape

Ripple has hired a senior London Metal Exchange treasury executive as the company expands deeper into institutional trading, tokenization and corporate finance.

Joseph Thompson, senior vice president and head of treasury at the LME, is leaving the exchange on Aug. 31 to join Ripple’s Trading and Markets team. His role is expected to include work tied to tokenized real-world assets, according to the original hire report.

The appointment brings experience from one of the world’s largest commodities exchanges into a business increasingly focused on liquidity, collateral and blockchain-based capital markets.

Ripple Builds Out Institutional Finance

The hire comes after Ripple’s broader push into corporate treasury and institutional infrastructure.

Ripple acquired GTreasury for $1 billion in 2025, giving it a long-established treasury management platform. That business has since been integrated into Ripple Treasury, which combines traditional cash management with digital-asset capabilities.

Ripple also launched native digital-asset functionality across its Treasury platform.

Coinpaper’s coverage of Ripple’s SWIFT tools showed how the company is increasingly positioning its products alongside existing financial infrastructure rather than only targeting crypto-native users.

Tokenization Becomes a Bigger Focus

Ripple has also increased its exposure to tokenized assets.

Recent investments in ZILO and Licuido were aimed at improving issuance, transfer agency and collateral infrastructure for institutional markets.

The XRP Ledger is also gaining more tokenized products. Aviva Investors recently launched a tokenized liquidity fund on XRPL, extending the network’s RWA footprint.

Ripple and Boston Consulting Group have estimated that tokenized assets could approach $19 trillion by 2033, although adoption will depend heavily on regulation and institutional demand.

The new hire does not mean the LME itself is adopting Ripple technology. Instead, it shows Ripple recruiting more expertise from traditional market infrastructure as it tries to expand beyond payments and deeper into institutional finance.

For background on the relationship between Ripple, XRP and the XRP Ledger, Coinpaper’s evergreen XRP guide provides a concise overview.