Ripple's dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD has crossed $2.5 billion in circulating supply after adding about $972 million over 90 days, the largest net inflow among major stablecoins as Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC contracted, according to Defillama data cited in the report.
RLUSD supply stood at about $2.57 billion on Nov. 4, up from $1.59 billion on Aug. 6. Over the same period, USDT supply fell roughly $5.2 billion to about $178.3 billion, and USDC slipped about $900 million to roughly $70.9 billion.
How the numbers stack up
Among other large issuers, Ethena's USDe was the closest rival to RLUSD's growth, adding about $690 million. World Liberty Financial's USD1 fell about $200 million, Global Dollar (USDG) lost around $660 million, and PayPal's PYUSD was little changed.
RLUSD's supply has roughly doubled this year, from about $1.28 billion on Jan. 1. Onchain data shows about $1.72 billion of the token sits on Ethereum and about $870 million on the XRP Ledger.
A choppy week inside a strong quarter
RLUSD's supply dropped from about $2.61 billion on Oct. 30 to $2.42 billion on Oct. 31 during the chaos that followed Binance's $6.3 billion hack. Ripple was among the issuers that moved to contain the fallout, with Ripple and World Liberty helping freeze the hacker's loot.
Supply recovered quickly. Ripple minted $110 million in RLUSD in a single transaction as Binance reopened XRP withdrawals, and RLUSD's market cap jumped from $2.411 billion to as much as $2.561 billion between 9:00 and 9:05 a.m. UTC on Nov. 2.
The bank charter factor
The growth spurt coincides with a regulatory milestone: Ripple received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Ripple National Trust Bank. Ripple said the federally supervised trust bank will manage RLUSD reserves, act as collateral trustee and offer digital asset custody, while token issuance stays with its New York-regulated entity.
A dollar token with reserves overseen by a federal bank regulator can be easier for compliance teams to approve. Issuer-level freeze powers, like those Ripple used during the Binance incident, are also a control that regulated firms often expect.
What it means for XRP
RLUSD's rise has sparked debate among XRP holders over whether the stablecoin competes with Ripple's native asset. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has argued that RLUSD solely competes with other stablecoins rather than XRP, while claiming that XRP will become the future institutional gold standard within five years.
For now, the two are moving in different directions: XRP traded near $1.25 on Wednesday, while the stablecoin kept adding supply. More RLUSD on the XRP Ledger means more transactions paying network fees in XRP, a link bulls point to.
Whether RLUSD can keep its lead depends on how quickly Ripple's trust bank comes online and whether exchange and payments demand holds after the Binance shock.
