$RLUSD, launched nearly two years ago, remains far behind long-established giants Tether’s $USDT $USDT$0.9998 and Circle’s $USDC $USDC$0.9998, but it has been growing rapidly.
Its circulating supply has climbed to $2.4 billion, up more than 50% over the past month, according to Token Terminal data. About $1 billion is on the $XRP Ledger, while $1.4 billion is on Ethereum ETH$2,535.23.
But Ripple is more focused on $RLUSD being used than the headline market capitalization.
“What’s more exciting to us is the utility and the daily activity,” McDonald said.
$RLUSD‘s daily activity more than tripled since the beginning of the year, climbing to roughly $750 million a day last month from about $200 million, he noted.
Payments and capital markets drive usage
Payments and capital markets are currently the two main areas of adoption. Ripple has made $RLUSD the primary stablecoin in its payments business, while in capital markets the token can be used for the cash leg of transactions, settlement and collateral.
Ripple has worked with firms including Franklin Templeton and DBS around tokenized money-market funds and lending, while $RLUSD can also be posted as collateral through Ripple Prime, the institutional brokerage business built from its acquisition of Hidden Road.
That strategy reflects Ripple’s broader push to combine stablecoins with custody, trading, payments and prime brokerage rather than operate $RLUSD as a standalone product.