RLUSD has crossed the $2 billion market-capitalization mark, with more than $1 billion of its supply issued on the XRP Ledger as Ripple pushes the stablecoin into tokenized finance, payments and lending.

Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD has grown beyond a $2 billion market capitalization, while issuance on the XRP Ledger has surpassed $1 billion, according to Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president responsible for stablecoins.

McDonald disclosed the milestone in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying RLUSD reached the level in less than two years since its launch. Blockchain news outlet The Crypto Basic subsequently reported the development.

The milestone reflects more than an increase in circulating supply. Ripple is signaling that RLUSD is being developed as a dollar-denominated settlement instrument for on-chain financial activity, including tokenized assets, payments and credit, rather than simply as another stablecoin available for exchange trading.

RLUSD Supply Tops $2B

McDonald said RLUSD issued on the XRP Ledger has now exceeded $1 billion. This represents the token’s supply on that specific network and differs from its total market capitalization across all blockchains.

The announcement was made in early September and relied on McDonald’s direct statement rather than figures compiled by an outside market-data provider.

That distinction is important because stablecoin market-cap estimates can vary between data platforms based on their timing and calculation methods. The figures for RLUSD’s issuance and its allocation across networks were directly attributed to Ripple.

The XRP Ledger’s rising activity in recent months provides additional context for the growing amount of RLUSD being issued on the network. Ripple has increasingly highlighted this figure as it expands the stablecoin’s role within the ecosystem.

Ripple Targets On-Chain Settlement

Ripple is seeking to make RLUSD the dollar side of transactions involving tokenized financial assets, while XRP can continue serving other purposes across the XRP Ledger.

The company has also invested in ZILO and Licuido as part of efforts to strengthen the infrastructure supporting digital financial markets on the ledger.

A continued shift toward tokenizing securities, funds and other financial instruments could create additional demand for stablecoins that can provide dollar-denominated settlement. Ripple’s investment strategy around the XRP Ledger appears geared toward that opportunity.

RLUSD Adoption Faces a Bigger Test

McDonald celebrated RLUSD’s move beyond $2 billion but noted that market capitalization is only one way to assess the stablecoin’s development. That framing suggests Ripple considers the milestone an intermediate achievement rather than the ultimate measure of success.

Some recent RLUSD growth has also been fueled by exchange reward programs, making it difficult to equate higher deposits with lasting institutional usage.

Bybit’s Hold and Earn program attracted more than $50 million in RLUSD deposits in 11 days. Ripple and Bybit later launched another phase offering larger rewards tied to XRP and RLUSD.

These programs point to user demand, but they do not necessarily demonstrate that RLUSD is gaining durable traction as a payment or settlement asset. Ripple’s expansion into lending could provide a more meaningful test of its utility.

Through initiatives involving Clearpool and Cicada Credit, Ripple is working to put RLUSD toward loans for fintech and payments businesses on the XRP Ledger. A separate Kenya-based project with MC Social Venture, BlockBima and Fortune Credit is focused on expanding access to insurance and credit for small businesses.

Ripple said the Kenya project reduced settlement times by 97% and lowered costs by approximately 3,000 times. If those efficiencies can be reproduced at scale, they could strengthen the case for RLUSD as financial infrastructure more than another increase in market capitalization would.

At this stage, however, it has not been established that RLUSD’s supply growth is translating into significantly greater liquidity or a larger overall crypto market value for the XRP Ledger.

The amount of tokenized real-world assets being brought onto the XRP Ledger will be a key metric to monitor as Ripple works to expand RLUSD from a stablecoin into a broader institutional settlement tool.