Ripple XRP News: Two-Thirds of RLUSD Still Lives on Ethereum And The XRP Ledger Upgrades That Could Change That Lack Votes
Only a third of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin sits on the XRP Ledger, on-chain data showed: a reminder for Ripple XRP holders that the company’s biggest wins don’t all reach the ledger.
The split is lopsided. The XRP Ledger holds $862.8 million of RLUSD, against $1.72 billion on Ethereum, and Ripple’s latest attestation put total circulation at $2.63 billion on October 29.
Ripple’s last week should help RLUSD grow. It won final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank on October 26, and signed a partnership with Robinhood a day later. Only the Robinhood deal names the XRP Ledger, for settling institutional trades through Bitstamp.
The ledger’s own upgrades are stuck. Its native lending protocol has 19 of the 28 validator votes it needs, and token vaults have 21.
The bank charter lets Ripple National Trust Bank hold the segregated reserves backing RLUSD, act as their collateral trustee for RLUSD holders, and offer digital asset custody once it opens. It can’t take deposits or make loans, and RLUSD will still be issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s New York-regulated trust company.
“For years, we’ve said crypto and banks work better together,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said. Ripple hasn’t given an opening date.
“Utility is what moves stablecoins forward,” said Johann Kerbrat, who runs Robinhood Crypto. Robinhood had 28.6 million funded customers in August.
Mostly on Ethereum. On Wednesday morning, RLUSD’s issuing account on the XRP Ledger showed 862.8 million tokens outstanding, while the RLUSD contract on Ethereum showed 1.72 billion.
The split matters for XRP. Every RLUSD payment on the XRP Ledger pays a small fee in XRP, which is destroyed, and every new account has to hold at least 1 XRP in reserve. RLUSD on Ethereum does neither.
Partly because the tools stablecoin users rely on elsewhere aren’t live on it yet. An upgrade, or amendment, needs 28 of the 35 trusted validators, or 80%, to vote yes for two weeks before it switches on, and most of the ones aimed at institutions are well short.
Until lending and vaults go live, institutions that want to lend out RLUSD have more options on Ethereum.
Ripple’s business is growing faster than the XRP Ledger’s share of it. Two other numbers from this week show how XRP itself is being handled:
The price hasn’t reacted to any of it. XRP trades at $1.28, flat over 24 hours, between support at $1.27 and resistance at $1.30, and below its 50-day and 200-day EMAs at $1.3353 and $1.3631.
For now, the Ripple XRP story is a split one. Ripple keeps adding banks and brokers for RLUSD, while most of the stablecoin stays on Ethereum.
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Alex is a seasoned cryptocurrency trader and market analyst with over seven years of active experience in the digital asset space. Since entering the markets in 2017, Alex has specialized in identifying emerging "meta" trends and high-volatility narratives. Notably, Alex... Read More