Ripple's RLUSD Overtakes PayPal's PYUSD as Seventh-Largest Stablecoin

Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin has passed PayPal's PYUSD to become the seventh-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, with on-chain supply readings on November 12, 2026 placing RLUSD at approximately $2.71 billion against roughly $2.67 billion for PYUSD. The gap — about $40 million — is narrow enough to fit inside a single busy trading day.

The crossover happened from both directions at once. RLUSD held steady or ticked slightly higher, while PYUSD lost between $99 million and $136 million in supply in a single day. The 30 days before the pass tell the same story: RLUSD added roughly $258 million in supply over that stretch, while PYUSD's supply contracted.

The lead rests on a single-day reading. Daily supply in this market can swing hard, and the order could flip back if PYUSD sees a wave of new issuance.

How RLUSD reached this position

RLUSD launched globally on December 17, 2024. It began 2026 with a market capitalization of roughly $1.34 billion, meaning the token has slightly more than doubled in under a year — an expansion Ripple has linked to exchange integrations and rising institutional adoption.

Roughly one-third of RLUSD's supply, about $874 million, sits on the XRP Ledger. The remainder circulates elsewhere, which suggests demand for the token extends beyond Ripple's home network. For issuers and treasury desks watching distribution risk, that ratio is the single most informative operational metric in this race.

Not everyone treats seventh place as the finish line. An XRP Ledger validator known as 'Vet' described RLUSD as already among the top five USD-backed stablecoins and on track for the top three. That forecast comes from a validator on Ripple's own network, not from a neutral party, and the arithmetic is demanding: climbing from seventh to third would require supply gains far larger than the $258 million RLUSD added over the past month.

What is behind PYUSD's contraction?

Paxos issues PYUSD on PayPal's behalf, with reserves in a mix of dollar deposits, US Treasuries and cash equivalents. The token has pulled back from peaks reached earlier in 2026, and the supply contraction in the run-up to the crossover extended that trend. Whether the decline reflects deliberate reserve management, softening payment-channel demand or a redistribution toward rival tokens remains unresolved in the available data.

What does the ranking change for practitioners?

For exchanges, market makers and corporate treasury users, the practical consequences are modest today. Both tokens remain far below the scale of the top-tier issuers, and a $40 million margin does not change liquidity depth, listing priority or settlement reliability in any material way. What it does change is signaling: RLUSD's doubling within 2026 demonstrates that a new entrant backed by exchange integrations can compress a first-mover's advantage in under two years.

Four indicators will settle whether this pass holds:

• Whether RLUSD retains its lead through coming weeks of daily supply swings.
• Whether PYUSD's contraction is a temporary dip or a sustained trend.
• Whether RLUSD's share on the XRP Ledger rises or falls, separating ecosystem-driven growth from wider adoption.
• Whether the top-three forecast from 'Vet' moves closer to reality.

For now, Ripple holds bragging rights over PayPal by roughly $40 million. The next tranche of daily supply data will show whether that margin is a milestone or a rounding error.