Ripple appointed Joseph Thompson, former LME treasury executive, to its trading and markets team on August 28 to support its tokenization strategy. Thompson spent nearly a decade at the London Metal Exchange, where he served as senior vice president and head of treasury, overseeing liquidity, collateral risk and clearing operations for industrial metals. He previously held liquidity management roles at Deutsche Bank, risk management positions at ICAP, and collateral oversight at London Clearing House. Ripple has been expanding into tokenized assets, custody, stablecoins and institutional trading through products such as Delta One swaps that cover equities, indices and digital assets. The company's $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road in October 2025 created Ripple Prime, a brokerage that clears over $3 trillion annually for more than 300 institutional clients. Ripple Prime's participation in a DTCC working group on tokenized securities does not place XRP in the DTCC clearing system. Ripple has not disclosed Thompson's exact title, start date or reporting line, nor has it announced a timetable for tokenization projects. The appointment is presented as a personnel addition to Ripple's tokenization operations rather than a partnership with the LME or a commitment to commodity-linked token products. Ripple has not said that any future tokenized asset will use XRP. Industry observers note that Thompson's exchange and clearing background may aid Ripple's goal of linking tokenized-asset infrastructure with trading, financing, clearing and collateral services, but the commercial outcome remains unclear. Further disclosures will be required to identify which products, markets or clients will fall under Thompson's responsibility.