Thunes just pulled a lever that matters for cross-border payments. According to NewsBTC, the firm has “officially launched real-time payment capabilities in the United States” via a direct connection with a Tier 1 financial institution.
That connection, NewsBTC says, gives Thunes access to ACH, Same-Day ACH, and “all real-time payment rails.” The practical implication is simple. If Thunes can push funds into US settlement faster and more reliably, it has more ways to route payment flows to US banks than a corridor that only supports slower settlement.
What Thunes says it built in the US
NewsBTC ties Thunes’ new capability to its licensing footprint. The article states Thunes holds 50 Money Transmitter Licenses, letting it operate across “every US state and territory.” It also claims Thunes and Ripple both have “institutional-grade access to US clearing systems,” independent of each other.
On top of that, NewsBTC reports Thunes already operates across 140 countries, supports 90 currencies, and connects to more than 12 billion mobile wallets, stablecoin wallets, and bank account endpoints. That scale matters because new settlement access is only useful if you can translate it into real corridors and real endpoints.
NewsBTC also claims Thunes plugged real-time US settlement into “the same network” that uses Ripple blockchain payments infrastructure, with XRP named as a bridge asset. The article adds that more than 140 countries can now send money to the US through rails connected to Ripple technology.
Where XRP fits in the routing story
NewsBTC frames this as reinforcement for Ripple’s global payments narrative. The chain of claims in the source is: Thunes expands real-time US settlement, then connects that capability into its network that already uses Ripple payments infrastructure, with XRP positioned as the bridge asset.
The source also offers a coverage number for Ripple payments. It says Ripple payments have “near-global coverage” with over 90 payout markets processing more than $70 billion in volume. NewsBTC does not provide dates or methodology for those figures, so treat them as directional rather than audited.
What’s concrete is the operational angle. If Thunes can reach US clearing and real-time rails, then the corridor math for settlement speed changes. For XRP as an asset, the relevance is that the source describes a “direct pathway into Tier 1 US banking through a partner” that is licensed across the US.
The RWA thread running in parallel
The NewsBTC piece does not stop at payments. It ties Thunes’ expansion to a broader push around the XRP Ledger’s real-world asset (RWA) ecosystem.
It claims that the XRP Ledger RWA ecosystem “surpassed $3 billion in tokenized value in April.” It attributes that milestone to an analyst known as BankXRP on X, and points to discussion by Luke Judges, Partner Director at RippleX, at Istanbul Blockchain Week.
NewsBTC also says the $3 billion figure reflects a “highly diversified mix of assets,” and then pivots to what it calls the next phase of growth. The article expects cash and cash-equivalent assets to lead, naming money market funds and US Treasury bills, alongside tokenized equities.
The broader vision described in the source is a “globally distributed financial system” where regulated assets can trade across asset classes through a unified order book. That’s a long-term architecture claim, not a regulator-certified product roadmap.
Fact check table from the source text
| Item | What NewsBTC claims | Source attribution in the text |
|---|---|---|
| US real-time payments | Thunes launched real-time payment capabilities in the US via direct connection with a Tier 1 financial institution | NewsBTC, via XFinanceBull on X |
| US rails accessible | Access to ACH, Same-Day ACH, and “all real-time payment rails” | NewsBTC |
| US licensing | Thunes holds 50 Money Transmitter Licenses, operating across every US state and territory | NewsBTC |
| Network size | Spans 140 countries, supports 90 currencies, connects to 12B+ mobile wallets, stablecoin wallets, and bank endpoints | NewsBTC |
| Integration date | Following expanded partnership with Ripple in September 2025, Thunes integrated blockchain and digital asset tech into its SmartX Treasury System | NewsBTC |
| XRP corridor claim | Over 140 countries can send money to the US through rails connected to Ripple technology | NewsBTC |
| XRP Ledger RWA milestone | XRP Ledger RWA ecosystem surpassed $3B tokenized value in April | BankXRP on X, per NewsBTC |
The deadline readers should watch
NewsBTC presents this as a momentum boost, but it also hints at what to monitor next. If Thunes’ US real-time rails are truly plugged into the network described, the measurable question is whether more corridors and settlement volumes follow.
On the RWA side, the immediate watch item in the source is the shift toward cash equivalents like money market funds and US Treasury bills, plus tokenized equities. That agenda is clear in the article. The proof will come from product launches, issuance, and settlement adoption, not the milestone alone.
For XRP as an asset, the risk stays the same. More payment plumbing can improve utility narratives, but networks still face regulatory, liquidity, and execution constraints that don’t show up in press-style rollups. NewsBTC’s report adds a new lever in the settlement stack. It does not eliminate the usual asset risk that comes with any market infrastructure buildout.