Key takeaways
- RLUSD supply on XRPL drops $284 million in October
- XRP trading pool reserves remain largely unchanged despite contraction
- On-chain records reveal recurring month-end stablecoin supply reductions
Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin experienced a sharp supply contraction on the XRP Ledger at the end of October, with approximately $284 million disappearing from circulation in a single day even as an XRP/RLUSD trading pool maintained relatively stable reserves.
DefiLlama recorded a 28.7% decline in RLUSD supply on XRPL to approximately 707 million tokens. However, blockchain observations showed that one sampled trading pool lost less than 1% of its XRP reserves while its RLUSD holdings actually increased.
The divergence comes shortly after XRPL reported $1.03 billion in stablecoin supply at the end of the third quarter, highlighting how quickly the network's dollar liquidity can change.
$284 Million in RLUSD Returns to Issuer
A separate November 2 investigation by Coindaro traced the contraction to transactions returning RLUSD directly to its issuer on October 30.
The analysis identified approximately 306.4 million RLUSD returned through 12 large payments, partially offset by 22 million newly issued tokens. The resulting net reduction was approximately $284.4 million.
One transaction group returned 106.5 million RLUSD around 16:08 UTC, followed by another 42.9 million shortly afterward.
However, the blockchain transactions do not establish why the tokens were returned.
Stablecoins sent back to their issuer extinguish the corresponding onchain obligations, but that does not necessarily prove customers redeemed equivalent amounts of cash. Treasury adjustments and inventory management can produce similar movements.
Earlier RLUSD minting and burning has demonstrated how substantial issuance activity can occur without comparable changes in circulating supply.
XRP Trading Pool Holds Steady Despite Supply Decline
The contraction did not produce a comparable reduction in one tracked XRP/RLUSD automated market maker.
Blockchain readings showed the pool's XRP reserves falling from approximately 1.884 million to 1.871 million XRP between October 29 and October 31, a decline of just 0.67%.
Its RLUSD holdings increased slightly from 2.328 million to 2.336 million tokens, gaining 0.36%.
These figures suggest the sampled pool maintained its available inventory despite the broader supply reduction.
However, liquidity across the network was less uniform. Funded offers available to traders selling XRP for RLUSD increased, while liquidity on the opposite side of the order book remained below its earlier level.
The distinction matters because stablecoin circulation and executable trading liquidity are different measurements.
Previous RLUSD distribution changes also showed that supply can shift between XRPL and Ethereum without indicating equivalent changes in trading demand.
Month-End Pattern Raises Questions About Ripple's Stablecoin Management
The October contraction may be part of a recurring pattern.
Coindaro found similar RLUSD supply reductions at every month-end in 2026, followed by substantial recoveries shortly afterward. October's $284 million decline was the largest in dollar terms, although earlier months experienced larger percentage reductions.
As of early November 2, the expected rebound had not yet appeared.
Ripple's RLUSD reserve structure remains a separate consideration. Moody's recently assigned an A2 rating to RLUSD's reserve arrangements, while Ripple reported approximately $2.63 billion in circulation and $2.76 billion in reserves as of October 29.
Those figures predate the latest contraction and cannot establish its purpose.
RLUSD has previously experienced large issuer returns, including a $128 million burn associated with Gemini in March.
Meanwhile, the broader XRPL financial ecosystem continues expanding across payments, lending and tokenized assets.
