Thinking Crypto News & Interviews
The XRP Ledger is Ready for AI, Quantum, DeFi & Tokenization! | Ayo Akinyele
June 17, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readThe XRP Ledger Is Building for Institutions, AI Agents, and a Post-Quantum World
Ayo Akinyele, head of engineering at RippleX, joined the Thinking Crypto Podcast to walk through the technical roadmap for the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Akinyele holds a PhD in cryptography from Johns Hopkins and previously founded Bolt Labs, a private layer-two payment network. His background gives him a distinctive vantage point on the privacy, compliance, and quantum-resistance upgrades now being built into XRPL at the protocol level. The conversation covers institutional adoption, tokenized treasuries, confidential transactions, AI agent payments, and quantum preparedness — all framed as steps toward making XRPL the default settlement layer for financial institutions.
Institutional Adoption Is Accelerating Now That the SEC Case Is Behind Ripple
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What you'll learn
- 1 (04:02) **Guest Background & Journey to Ripple** - Ayo Akinyele introduces his background: immigrant, Carnegie Mellon, PhD in cryptography from Johns Hopkins, early Bitcoin interest
- 2 (10:42) **RippleX & XRPL Overview** - RippleX supports partners, enterprises, and financial institutions building on XRPL
- 3 (15:45) **Market Shift: From SEC Case to Tech** - The market is moving past the SEC distraction toward real institutional use cases
- 4 (17:38) **JP Morgan, Mastercard & Rondo Pilot** - Tokenized treasuries pilot using XRPL for liquidity management and cash-out
- 5 (21:19) **Privacy Initiatives: Confidential Transactions on XRPL** - Hiding transaction amounts and token balances while preserving compliance
- 6 (24:22) **Privacy vs. Regulation: How Compliance Works** - Regulators now accept verifiable privacy tools; no longer a trust question
- 7 (32:21) **AI & the Agentic Economy on XRPL** - Positioning XRPL as native for AI agents needing micropayments and low friction
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Ayo Akinyele, Head of Engineering at RippleX, joined us to discuss the development and adoption of the XRP Ledger by institutions and more.
Topics:
- Institutions building on the XRPL
- Quantum resistance strategy
- AI Agent strategy
- AMM v2 and DeFi
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🔊 Listen to content on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinking-crypto-news-interviews/id1458945676
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💼Business Inquiries💼
[email protected]
⏰ Time Stamps ⏰
00:00 Intro
03:30 Ayo's background
09:57 RippleX overview
44:28 Wrap up questions
=================================================
#XRP #XRPL #Ripple #Crypto #CryptoNews #Cryptocurrency #Bitcoin #BTC #BitcoinNews #ETF #News ##XRPNews #RippleXRP #Ethereum #EthereumNews #ETH #Solana #money #investing #trading #Altcoin #Altcoins #NFTs #Metaverse #Podcast #ThinkingCrypto ========================
Topics:
- Institutions building on the XRPL
- Quantum resistance strategy
- AI Agent strategy
- AMM v2 and DeFi
Brought to you by 🏦 Learn about iTrustCapital’s powerful Premium Custody Account (PCA) and tax-advantaged Crypto IRA platforms https://www.itrustcapital.com/go/thinkingcrypto
💡Get the (Re)Thinking Crypto Book on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2525DYX
🖥️ Learn Crypto with Expert Commentary - http://MyCryptoCourse.com
Sponsors:
🌟 Build with BitGo - https://bitgo.com/?utm_source=thinking_crypto&utm_medium=brand&utm_campaign=sponsorship
🌟The Digital Future. Embedded senior leadership for the frontier of crypto, fintech, and AI. The Digital Future dot xyz- https://thedigitalfuture.xyz/?utm_source=thinkingcrypto&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=convergelabs
🔐 Safely Store your Crypto with Trezor Hardware Wallets - https://affil.trezor.io/SHlz
🌟Uphold - Signup with Uphold. https://uphold.sjv.io/gbED4X Terms Apply. Cryptoassets are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
🖥️ Sign up with Santiment to get quality crypto metrics - https://app.santiment.net/pricing?fpr=thinkingcrypto Get 25% discount with code THINKINGCRYPTO
📰 Sign up for the Free Thinking Crypto Weekly Newsletter https://thinkingcrypto.substack.com/
✅ Become a Channel Member - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjpkwsuHgYx9fBE0ojsJ_-w/join
🔥 Buy Merch & support the Podcast https://my-store-574b5b.creator-spring.com/
🧙♂️Merlin - http://tinyurl.com/MerlinTCYouTube “I am a Merlin partner and get compensated for purchases made through links in this content"this content"
Follow on social media:
➡️ X(Twitter) - https://x.com/thinkingcrypto
➡️ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thinkingcrypto/
➡️ LinkedIn - http://linkedin.com/company/thinking-crypto
➡️ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thinkingcrypto/
➡️ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thinkingcrypto5
➡️ Threads - https://www.threads.net/@thinkingcrypto
➡️ Website - https://www.ThinkingCrypto.com/
🔊 Listen to content on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinking-crypto-news-interviews/id1458945676
🔊 Listen to content on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/221AV5A65v7uYEsuMviVKl
💼Business Inquiries💼
[email protected]
⏰ Time Stamps ⏰
00:00 Intro
03:30 Ayo's background
09:57 RippleX overview
44:28 Wrap up questions
=================================================
#XRP #XRPL #Ripple #Crypto #CryptoNews #Cryptocurrency #Bitcoin #BTC #BitcoinNews #ETF #News ##XRPNews #RippleXRP #Ethereum #EthereumNews #ETH #Solana #money #investing #trading #Altcoin #Altcoins #NFTs #Metaverse #Podcast #ThinkingCrypto ========================
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