According to Ripple’s UK and Europe Managing Director, Cassie Craddock, Ripple’s London office has expanded significantly over the last decade to become Ripple’s largest international hub outside the U.S.
“When we moved into our current office in 2018, there were 2 floors, and a lot of empty desks. Now we’re on 3 floors and full on all the desks. We’re now over capacity,” she wrote on X.
Craddock’s comments came after she took part in a fireside chat at the British Residence in New York as part of Ripple’s Swell conference.
She revealed that Ripple chose to focus on London early on, given the UK’s strong capital markets, mature legal system, experienced regulators and concentration of financial talent.
However, she added that regulatory uncertainty had previously limited the company’s capacity to build more relationships with leading U.K. financial institutions.
From humble beginnings to largest hub abroad
Ripple’s story in the U.K. capital began on March 21, 2016, when the San Francisco-based company officially announced the launch of its first office in London, located in Canary Wharf.
Back then, the expansion was meant to accommodate the growing interest of European banks in distributed ledger technology and cross-border settlement solutions.
Ripple incorporated its U.K. entity in April 2016 under the name Ripple Europe Ltd. (later changed to Ripple Markets UK Ltd. in August 2022).
Ripple continued to expand its ties to U.K. financial institutions in the following years.
In April 2018, Santander introduced its new international payments app, One Pay FX, which used Ripple’s xCurrent technology.
In February 2022, Ripple announced a partnership with London-based payments company Modulr to make it easier to send cross-border payments to the UK and Europe.
Moreover, Ripple has played a role in developing the research landscape for blockchain in the U.K. In January 2026, Ripple shared that it had pledged more than £5M to UK universities under its University Blockchain Research Initiative.
One of the major milestones for Ripple in the U.K. occurred on Jan. 9, when Ripple received an Electronic Money Institution license and cryptoasset registration from the Financial Conduct Authority. The authorizations enabled Ripple to extend its regulated cross-border payment services to UK institutions.
In February, Ripple also secured a partnership with Aviva Investors to explore the tokenization of traditional investment funds.
This work resulted in the launch of a tokenized share class of Aviva Investors’ £22bn Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger on Oct. 26.
