Ripple has made headlines recently for two key developments—its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin surpassing $100 million in market capitalization and the ongoing debate over XRP’s missing early ledgers. While RLUSD’s rapid growth signals strong market adoption, discussions around the first 32,569 lost XRP ledgers continue to spark debate about transparency and historical record-keeping. Ripple’s executives have addressed both topics, emphasizing the company’s commitment to regulatory compliance and network security. However, questions remain as Ripple navigates its role in the evolving crypto landscape.
Ripple’s RLUSD Stablecoin Surpasses $100 Million Market Cap in Record Time
Ripple’s foray into the stablecoin market has already begun making waves, with Ripple USD (RLUSD) surpassing $100 million in market capitalization just over a month after its launch. The rapid milestone was announced by Jack McDonald, SVP of Stablecoins at Ripple, who emphasized the asset’s over-reserved status, meaning Ripple holds more collateral than the circulating supply of RLUSD.
According to McDonald, Ripple’s reserves currently exceed the total supply of RLUSD by $6 million, reinforcing the company’s commitment to financial security and transparency in the stablecoin space. The achievement comes as Ripple seeks to establish itself as a major player in the stablecoin ecosystem, competing against giants like Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC).
Ripple launched RLUSD with a clear focus on regulatory compliance, security, and interoperability. Given Ripple’s strong presence in the payments sector and its longstanding relationships with financial institutions, the stablecoin was expected to gain traction quickly.
However, hitting the $100 million mark within a month is a significant feat, signaling strong early adoption. By comparison, stablecoins such as Paxos (USDP) and TrueUSD (TUSD), which have been around for years, currently hold market caps of around $500 million and $2 billion, respectively.
While RLUSD has gained momentum, it still has a long way to go before catching up to USDT ($140 billion market cap) and USDC ($53 billion market cap)—the two dominant stablecoins that control the majority of the sector’s liquidity.
Monica Long, Ripple’s President, recently hinted at RLUSD's expanding ecosystem, stating that the stablecoin would soon be listed on more platforms, further increasing its accessibility and utility. Wider exchange support and deeper integration into Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution could position RLUSD as a strong competitor in cross-border payments and institutional finance.
Ripple’s strong regulatory focus also sets it apart. In contrast to algorithmic stablecoins or those facing uncertainties around reserves, RLUSD is designed to provide full transparency and maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar, backed by a reserve exceeding its issuance.
Can RLUSD Compete with Tether and USDC?
Despite RLUSD’s impressive early growth, it faces significant challenges. Tether remains the undisputed leader, with an entrenched market position, deep liquidity, and extensive adoption across both CeFi (centralized finance) and DeFi (decentralized finance). Similarly, USDC has secured a strong foothold, particularly in the US, due to its compliance-driven approach and backing from major financial institutions.
Ripple’s ability to scale RLUSD beyond its initial growth phase will depend on several key factors:
Exchange Adoption: Listings on major platforms such as Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken will be crucial for RLUSD’s long-term success.
Institutional Demand: Ripple’s connections with banks and financial institutions could help drive corporate adoption of RLUSD for cross-border settlements.
DeFi Integration: For RLUSD to compete with USDC and Tether, it must establish itself within the Ethereum, Solana, and other DeFi ecosystems.
Regulatory Clarity: Ripple’s ongoing legal battles with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could impact RLUSD’s trajectory.
Ripple’s ambition to reshape the stablecoin market is evident, and the early success of RLUSD suggests strong potential. However, the road ahead is not without hurdles. While surpassing $100 million in market cap is impressive, long-term viability depends on sustained demand, liquidity expansion, and institutional trust.
If Ripple successfully integrates RLUSD into its global payment network and secures key regulatory approvals, it could position itself as a viable alternative to USDC and USDT. For now, RLUSD is in its infancy, but its rapid growth signals that Ripple is serious about making a lasting impact in the stablecoin arena.
The XRP Missing Ledgers Debate: Transparency Concern or Just Another Bitcoin vs. XRP Battle?
The debate over XRP’s missing ledgers refuses to fade into obscurity. The first 32,569 ledgers of the XRP Ledger are gone, erased from history with no known backup. While Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz insists that all previous accounts are accounted for in ledger 32,570, skepticism persists, particularly from Bitcoin maximalists who argue that XRP’s lack of a complete historical record is a serious transparency issue.
This controversy is nothing new, but it raises critical questions about XRP’s legitimacy, its premined supply, and Ripple’s broader ambitions—especially its push to position XRP as a US reserve asset.
In XRP’s early days, a mishap occurred that resulted in the permanent loss of the first batch of ledgers. No backup. No chance of recovery. Those transactions, those records? Gone.
Unlike Bitcoin, where a complete historical record is necessary to verify its unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs), XRP uses a different approach. Each new ledger contains a summarized state of the previous one, making it unnecessary to go back and reconstruct earlier data.
Schwartz reassured the community that ledger 32,570 still reflects all previous accounts and balances. In other words, functionally, nothing was lost—just the granular transaction details from XRP’s infancy.
Bitcoin proponents claim that their blockchain’s full transaction history is a cornerstone of financial transparency and decentralization. Every satoshi can be traced back to its original mining event, reinforcing Bitcoin’s trustless nature.
XRP’s missing ledgers, they argue, cast a shadow over the network’s credibility, especially given the controversy surrounding its premined supply and Ripple’s control over billions of tokens.
Ripple, on the other hand, argues that this is a non-issue. According to Schwartz, in XRP’s early days, there was no expectation that the ledger would become the definitive XRP record. Had Ripple reset the ledger, they would have lost even more history, rendering a reset pointless.
But that explanation has done little to silence critics who see the missing ledgers as part of a broader pattern of opaqueness.
Ripple’s Control and XRP’s Future
Transparency concerns are not new for Ripple. The company has faced SEC scrutiny, lawsuits, and accusations of centralized control over XRP’s supply.
While Ripple maintains that it does not control the XRP Ledger, it holds a significant amount of XRP in escrow, fueling concerns about supply manipulation.
With Ripple pushing XRP as a potential US reserve asset, the missing ledgers controversy has gained renewed attention. Critics argue that if XRP is to be a global financial tool, its historical record should be unimpeachable.
From a technical perspective, no—the XRP Ledger functions exactly as it should. The missing ledgers do not impact its security, its ability to settle transactions, or its decentralization mechanism.
From a perception standpoint, however, the debate lingers. Transparency matters in crypto, and Bitcoin maximalists are unlikely to let go of the missing ledgers argument any time soon.
For XRP, the real question is whether adoption and institutional integration will overshadow these lingering concerns. As Ripple continues to build partnerships with banks, financial firms, and payment providers, the market—not online debates—will ultimately determine XRP’s future.
