RLUSD tops $2 billion market cap, closing in on PayPal USD

Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin crossed $2 billion in market cap, narrowing the gap with PayPal USD to under $1 billion.

Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin crossed $2 billion in market capitalization on Aug. 21, closing within $835 million of PayPal USD's $2.87 billion, according to CoinGecko data.

RLUSD's circulating supply stood at 1.55 billion tokens, with nearly $1 billion issued on the XRP Ledger, according to CoinMarketCap and on-chain data from the RLUSD Treasury.

The RLUSD Treasury executed multiple mints over the past day, including a $40 million issuance on Ethereum and additional $25 million, $20 million, $19 million, $14 million, and $12 million token creations. Daily trading volume stayed above $43 million, topping $100 million on days of heavy settlement, while the token held its $1 peg throughout.

The milestone puts RLUSD within reach of toppling PayPal USD, which grew its market cap from $1.28 billion in September to $3.8 billion after expanding across Solana and Arbitrum, per DeFiLlama. Ripple's next regulatory milestone is the outcome of its National Trust Charter application before the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, alongside the commercial launch of its payment infrastructure in Japan with SBI Holdings.

Institutional expansion

Deutsche Bank onboarded Ripple's technology for institutional cross-border payment settlements during February, while Société Générale expanded support for its MiCA-regulated euro stablecoin to the XRP Ledger network. Ripple has executed corporate acquisitions with a cumulative value near $3 billion to build out its custody and compliance framework. The protocol operates under New York trust charters and states that every circulating token is fully backed by US dollar bank deposits, short-term US Treasury bills, and cash equivalents subject to periodic audits.

Competitive landscape

RLUSD ranks among the top stablecoins by market capitalization, sitting behind Tether's USDT at roughly $183 billion, Circle's USDC at about $73 billion, Maker's USDS at $9.7 billion, Dai at $4.5 billion, and Ethena's USDe at more than $4 billion. RLUSD's growth has been concentrated on the XRP Ledger, which earlier trailed Ethereum as the dominant network for the token. RLUSD deposits on the Morpho Blue lending platform rose $17.5 million over the past 30 days to about $280 million, a 40 percent increase from the prior month.

RLUSD's rapid ascent reflects intensifying competition in the regulated stablecoin segment, where enterprise issuers are vying for institutional settlement flows. If the current issuance pace holds, RLUSD could overtake PayPal USD's position among the largest dollar-backed assets, pressuring incumbent issuers to expand distribution across additional networks.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.