Ripple pilots RLUSD stablecoin across Optimism, Base, Ink and Unichain

Published: 2025-12-16 11:32:34 |

Ripple Labs has begun a multichain pilot for its US dollar‑backed stablecoin RLUSD, testing native-token transfers across Ethereum Layer‑2 networks including Optimism, Base, Ink (Kraken’s L2) and Unichain. The programme uses Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers (NTT) standard to move RLUSD as a native asset between chains rather than as wrapped tokens, aiming to preserve liquidity and keep a single canonical token contract controlled by Ripple. RLUSD was issued on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum in December 2024 and has grown to roughly $1.3bn market capitalisation with retail integrations such as Transak and wallets including Xaman. The pilot targets scalability and cross‑chain usability for DeFi, payments and institutional settlement, and signals Ripple’s multichain stablecoin strategy. Wider rollouts to more chains are planned for 2026 but remain subject to US regulatory approvals (NYDFS authorisation for issuance and a pending federal charter application). The move reduces fragmented liquidity and complexity for traders and DeFi users and may increase RLUSD utility across L2 markets if the pilot and approvals proceed.

Bullish

The pilot expands RLUSD’s on‑chain utility and liquidity across Layer‑2 networks, which directly supports demand and usability — key bullish drivers for the stablecoin’s market share and on‑chain volume. Using Wormhole’s NTT to keep RLUSD native on multiple chains reduces fragmented liquidity and operational friction, increasing adoption potential in DeFi, payments and institutional settlement. Short term, impact on price is limited because RLUSD is a dollar‑backed stablecoin (price stability is expected), but increased issuance, integrations and multichain liquidity can raise market cap and circulating supply usage metrics, improving on‑chain activity. Over the medium to long term, successful pilot results and regulatory approvals would likely be positive for RLUSD market share versus competing stablecoins and could boost trading volumes on L2s that adopt it. Risks that could mute the bullish outlook include regulatory setbacks, technical issues with NTT cross‑chain flows, or lack of liquidity provisioning by market makers.