RLUSD Reaches $2.518B as XRP Sits 59% Below Its Record

Cryptocurrencies are considered a high-risk asset class. Investing in them may result in the loss of part or all of your capital. The content on this website is intended solely for informational and educational use and should not be interpreted as financial or investment advice.
Why Trust Us
Why Trust Us
Abstract crypto market scene showing RLUSD rising while XRP trails behind on a clean trading-lab platform

In XRP news today, Ripple’s stablecoin keeps growing while its token stalls. RLUSD’s market value has reached about $2.52 billion, DefiLlama data shows. After climbing more than 85% in 2026, XRP trades near $1.51, or 59% below its all-time high of $3.65 set on July 17, 2025.

That split highlights a widening gap. Ripple’s stablecoin business looks healthy, but XRP holders are not seeing that strength in their portfolios.

RLUSD
RLUSD DefilLama
Sign Up With MergeX And Trade Crypto

What Does RLUSD’s $2.5 Billion Growth Show About the XRP Ledger?

About $1.12 billion of RLUSD now sits on the XRP Ledger, with the remaining $1.40 billion on Ethereum. On XRPL, RLUSD makes up more than 90% of the roughly $1.2 billion stablecoin supply. That shows how dominant Ripple’s own product has become on the chain it built.

Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president for stablecoins, said in early September that RLUSD’s market cap had passed $2 billion. More than $1 billion of that was issued directly on the XRP Ledger.

RLUSD was recently about $248 million short of PayPal USD’s market cap. Given this year’s pace of issuance, that gap could close within weeks.

This growth, tracked in RLUSD’s market-cap expansion into payments and tokenized-finance settlement, reflects deposits and institutional adoption. It is not a pricing signal for XRP itself.

Don’t Miss: ICOBench Experts Call the Next 1000x Crypto Coins for 2026

Why Is XRP 59% Below Its High While RLUSD Climbs?

XRP’s recent path looks very different from RLUSD’s steady climb. At around $1.51, XRP carries a market cap of about $94.9 billion. Its fully diluted valuation, which counts supply not yet in circulation, stands near $151 billion.

The clearest source of new XRP demand is not the stablecoin. U.S. spot XRP ETFs took in about $75.6 million between September 22 and 25. Cumulative ETF inflows now total roughly $1.71 billion. That money comes from investors buying XRP on its own merits, not from stablecoin activity.

XRP ETF Flow
XRP ETF Flow Coinglass

XRP News Today: The Test XRP Holders Now Need Ripple to Pass

RLUSD demands little from XRP beyond the small transaction fees and wallet reserves every XRP Ledger user pays, amounts far too small to offset daily XRP trading volume of roughly $4.1 billion. Revenue Ripple earns on RLUSD reserves accrues to the private company, not to public XRP holders, since Ripple does not publish financial statements tying stablecoin income back to the token.

The scenario worth watching is whether RLUSD closes its remaining gap with PayPal USD while XRP’s price stays flat, which would confirm the two assets are decoupling rather than compounding together. A more bullish outcome would arrive if Ripple builds a settlement product that requires RLUSD flows to route through XRP as a bridge or collateral asset, restoring the utility case Ripple originally built around the token.

Don’t Miss: The Secret Meme Coins Smart Money Are Stacking For Next Year

By Raymond James

Raymond is an experienced writer versed in everything blockchain, having been covering the crypto space for over 5 years. He is based in Los Angeles, California and his work has appeared in dozens of crypto industry outlets.