Ripple Announces RLUSD Growth Strategy: L2 Expansion On Ethereum Planned For 2026

Ripple, the issuer of the fast-growing RLUSD stablecoin, has recently announced an ambitious multichain strategy aimed at enhancing its presence in the crypto space. 

This initiative will see RLUSD integrated into Layer-2 (L2) solutions on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, facilitated by a partnership with Wormhole, one of the largest protocols for cross-chain interoperability.

Ripple Targets Broader Blockchain Integration

In a press release issued on Monday, Ripple and Wormhole detailed their plans to initiate testing on several notable L2 networks, including Optimism (OP), Base, Ink, and Unichain. 

The collaboration will leverage Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers (NTT) standard, which is designed to ensure efficient movement of liquidity across various blockchain ecosystems while allowing Ripple to maintain native control over RLUSD.

Originally launched on both the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum, RLUSD aims to enhance cross-chain functionalities and decentralized finance (DeFi) opportunities. 

Jack McDonald, Senior Vice President of Stablecoin at Ripple, emphasized the significance of stablecoins in the DeFi landscape, stating:

The executive also highlighted that by launching RLUSD as the first US Trust Regulated stablecoin on these L2 networks, Ripple is also setting a standard where compliance meets on-chain efficiency. Looking toward, Ripple plans to launch RLUSD on additional chains, pending final regulatory approval. 

RLUSD Becomes Third-Largest US-Regulated Stablecoin

Notably, RLUSD has achieved a market capitalization of $1.3 billion in less than a year, making it the third-largest stablecoin among US-regulated options, according to CoinGecko data. 

Positioned for compliance with the GENIUS Act, RLUSD’s circulating supply surged by 28% in November alone, crossing the billion-dollar threshold. It currently ranks behind only Circle’s USDC and PayPal’s PYUSD in the US-regulated dollar tokens. 

In a significant development in November of this year, Ripple also initiated a new pilot program with traditional finance giants Mastercard, WebBank, and crypto exchange Gemini aimed at facilitating credit card transaction settlements using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger. 

This partnership allows WebBank to send RLUSD over the XRPL for instant settlement of daily payment obligations with Mastercard, eliminating the traditional delays associated with bank ACH transfers.

Ripple’s president, Monica Long, described this pilot as a “meaningful step” toward demonstrating how regulated digital assets can expedite institutional payment processes. 

XRP, which is also associated with the company, is trading at $1.90. This represents a 5% drop over the past 24 hours, in line with the broader correction in the crypto market cap, which has seen Bitcoin (BTC) and other leading altcoins resume the downtrend witnessed over the past two months. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com