Key highlights:
- RLUSD surpassed $2.4B in market cap (+50% in a month), backed by $2.53B in reserves (BNY as custodian), with daily activity tripling since early 2026
- Ethereum now holds more RLUSD ($1.37B) than the XRP Ledger ($1.05B), with expansion to Optimism, Base, Ink, and Unichain
- RLUSD growth doesn’t directly translate to XRP demand, as businesses can use RLUSD without buying XRP, though increased XRPL activity does generate some XRP fee demand
Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin
RLUSD’s growth is expanding beyond Ripple’s own blockchain, with Ethereum’s balance increasing by roughly $737 million since July and the XRP Ledger adding about $146 million.
Ripple has also expanded the stablecoin to networks including Optimism, Base, Ink, Unichain, and the XRP Ledger EVM Sidechain through Wormhole infrastructure, giving users more options to access and move RLUSD.
Exchange and DeFi integrations have provided another source of growth. McDonald highlighted RLUSD’s integration with Spark Finance’s Stablecoin FX Layer on Uniswap v4, where the RLUSD/USDS trading pair processed more than $600 million in its first week.
RLUSD is growing, but what does it mean for XRP?
The integration gives traders another venue to exchange RLUSD for USDS while adding liquidity to decentralized finance markets.
Ripple is also exploring stablecoin payments involving artificial intelligence agents.
RippleX has updated its XRP Ledger AI Starter Kit to support the Machine Payments Protocol, allowing developers to build systems in which AI agents can make one-time payments using XRP or issued assets such as RLUSD.
McDonald also pointed to growing stablecoin use across Asia-Pacific for payments, treasury management, and institutional settlement.
While the broader corporate treasury market could provide significant opportunities, RLUSD’s growth does not directly translate into equivalent demand for XRP.
Businesses can use RLUSD without buying XRP, although XRP remains necessary for transaction fees on the XRP Ledger.
Increased RLUSD activity could therefore support some XRP demand, but its circulating supply alone does not measure that demand.
Source:: RLUSD Market Cap Surges 50% as Ripple Eyes a $13T Corporate Treasury Market