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Ripple's RLUSD Overtakes PayPal's PYUSD as Seventh-Largest Stablecoin
RLUSD reached about $2.7 billion in market cap, edging past PYUSD's $2.6 billion, though supply changes rather than payment activity drove the shift.
Outputs
RLUSD is now the seventh-largest stablecoin at approximately $2.7 billion, ahead of PYUSD's $2.6 billion.
RLUSD launched globally in December 2024; its market cap has nearly doubled over two years.
The ranking change was driven by circulating supply, not demonstrated payment or settlement activity.
Ripple's dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD has overtaken PayPal's PYUSD to become the seventh-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, according to recent market data. RLUSD now stands at approximately $2.7 billion, narrowly ahead of PYUSD's $2.6 billion — a margin of roughly $100 million, or less than 4 percent, which is thin enough that the ranking could reverse in short order.
The milestone marks a shift in market positioning for Ripple, the payments company behind the XRP Ledger. RLUSD launched globally in December 2024, and its market capitalization has nearly doubled over the past two years. In plain terms, the token has grown from a mid-tier entrant into a top-ten issuer in a segment still dominated by Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC.
What actually drove the crossover?
The data tells a more restrained story than the headline ranking suggests. The change in position appears driven by changes in circulating supply rather than by an increase in payment or settlement activity. Issuers can expand supply through minting at the request of institutional partners; that expansion does not, by itself, demonstrate transaction demand from end users.
That distinction matters. A stablecoin that climbs the rankings through supply issuance has claimed shelf space, not necessarily throughput. Neither Ripple nor PayPal has disclosed corresponding volume figures in this ranking shift, and those numbers would be the real test of adoption.
The gap between the two tokens remains narrow, underscoring how dynamic stablecoin rankings are outside the top tier. A ranking change measured in the tens of millions of dollars can occur within days when issuers mint or redeem.
What does this mean for Ripple's ecosystem?
Market participants are watching the shift for its potential implications on Ripple's broader ecosystem, particularly XRP. Rising RLUSD prominence may signal increased confidence in Ripple's stack, and some traders treat stablecoin growth on a network as a leading indicator for that network's native asset.
That connection, however, remains indirect. RLUSD does not mechanically drive XRP demand, and the source data does not evidence any settlement-volume link between the two. Any claim that the ranking change translates into fundamental demand for XRP should be treated as unproven.
What comes next?
Observers will track whether RLUSD's market capitalization extends its lead or gives it back, alongside any strategic announcements from Ripple that could affect XRP's competitive standing. Upcoming Federal Reserve policy decisions and regulatory developments touching Ripple or the wider crypto market add further variables.
A broader crypto rally led by Bitcoin, or other structural shifts in the digital asset market, could also shape XRP's trajectory independently of anything RLUSD does. For now, the takeaway is simple: Ripple has won a ranking, not yet a demonstrated payments franchise.
via Crypto Briefing (Source)
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Staff writer covering regulation, policy and their impact on crypto and web3 industry at Mempool Brief.
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