Ethereum Price Plunges 6% As Ripple Pilots RLUSD On ETH L2s

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The Ethereum price has dropped more than 6% in the past 24 hours to trade at $2,928.35 as of 2:52 a.m. EST, with trading volume spiking 34% to $29.3 billion.

That ETH price plunge comes even after Ripple rolled out RLUSD to multiple Ethereum layer-2 chains, including Optimism, Base, Inkchain, and Unichain, using Wormhole’s Native Token Transfer (NTT) standard.

RLUSD is expanding to Layer 2s using @wormhole’s NTT standard for native, secure transfers and will become the first U.S.-based, trust-regulated stablecoin on @Optimism, @Base, @Inkonchain and @Unichain: https://t.co/ju9KyoOIBa

This will enhance utility for XRP and RLUSD by…

— Ripple (@Ripple) December 15, 2025

“As chains continue to build for real-world use, the need for a highly regulated stablecoin is stronger than ever,” the Ripple team said.

The choice of ETH L2s comes as Ripple aims to take its product to where users already are. The team emphasized that the future is multi-chain, as it cannot expect all users to migrate to the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to use their products.

Furthermore, by expanding to Layer 2s, Ripple Executive Reece Merrick says that RLUSD must be “chain-agnostic.” It needs to function just as well on Ethereum-based networks as it does on the XRPL.

We aim to ensure that RLUSD is the definitive and trusted gateway for the entire digital asset economy, and the primary impetus is the recognition that the future of crypto is multichain and RLUSD needs to exist wherever there is demand

— Reece Merrick (@reece_merrick) December 16, 2025

Therefore, RLUSD needs to be wherever demand exists.

Ethereum Price On A Sustained Bearish Trend

The ETH price, after surging in July through a parabolic rally to an all-time high (ATH) of around $4,950 in August, corrected through a falling channel pattern as sellers booked profits.

As a result of the bearish pressure, the Ethereum price has continuously dropped below key support levels on the Fibonacci Retracement daily chart.

However, the 0.786 Fib level around $2,762 provided ETH with some bullish support, and the price regained the $3,000 level above the 0.618 Fib zone at $3,223.

The price of ETH has since dropped to around $2,928, as Ethereum trades within a falling channel pattern, signaling that bears still have control.

ETH still trades below both the 50-day and 200-day Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), which cements the overall bearish trend. The SMAs have also formed a death cross around $3,489, as the 200-day SMA ($3,564) crossed above the 50-day SMA ($3,221).

Meanwhile, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has turned negative, falling from above the 50-midline to 41, indicating ETH is under intense selling pressure.

WETH/USD Chart Analysis Source: GeckoTerminal

ETH Price Prediction

According to the ETH/USD chart analysis, ETH remains in a corrective bearish structure on the daily timeframe.

Ethereum is currently trading below the 0.618 Fib at $3,223 and under both major moving averages, reinforcing downside pressure. As long as the ETH price remains below this level, rallies are likely to be corrective.

On the downside, the 0.786 Fib at $2,760 is the most immediate support level. A daily close below this level would weaken any bullish hopes and increase the probability of a move toward the 1.0 Fib near $2,175.

Conversely, if buyers defend the 0.786 level and momentum stabilizes, the Ethereum price could attempt a rebound toward $3,220 (0.618 Fib).

A stronger recovery would require reclaiming $3,547 (0.5 Fib), followed by $3,870 (0.382 Fib).

Overall, ETH price movements suggest a short-term range-bound to downward bias, with any attempt for a bullish rally likely to face selling pressure until bulls reclaim the SMAs and the falling channel is broken decisively.