RLUSD has rapidly emerged as a notable player in the stablecoin landscape, distinguishing itself not merely by its impressive growth in circulation but by its strategic evolution into a specialized settlement instrument. Launched in late 2024, its journey reflects a deliberate focus on utility, leveraging key partnerships and technical integrations to carve out a unique niche alongside established stablecoin giants.
Rapid Ascent and Strategic Market Penetration
Beginning its expansion shortly after a December 2024 launch, RLUSD quickly surpassed a $1 billion market cap through early exchange listings. A pivotal moment arrived with its January 2026 listing on Binance, which provided a significant liquidity inflection point by expanding global access and incentivizing trading with zero-fee options. This move, coupled with the subsequent XRPL integration in February 2026, not only opened crucial deposit rails and matured liquidity but also solidified Binance's stablecoin market share and deepened the XRP Ledger's settlement capabilities. These strategic integrations are collectively advancing RLUSD’s utility for cross-border payments and multi-network circulation.
Dynamic Issuance and Specialized Network Utility
By mid-February 2026, RLUSD's circulation had climbed to approximately $1.52 billion, a growth propelled by Binance onboarding, institutional inflows, and the seeding of payment corridors. Its issuance mechanism demonstrates a finely tuned balance, with treasury mints (e.g., 59 million, 28.2 million, 35 million) scaling to route liquidity into exchanges and DeFi rails, while measured burns, such as 2.5 million on Ethereum, actively temper oversupply and reinforce peg stability above 103% collateralization. The stablecoin's deployment strategy reveals a clear intent: nearly $1.2 billion (77–79%) is allocated to Ethereum for liquidity provisioning and collateral, while roughly $348 million (22–23%) resides on the XRPL, primarily facilitating settlement routing and enhancing cross-border throughput.
Differentiated On-Chain Velocity and Settlement Focus
Despite its current circulation being modest compared to Tether's vast dominance, RLUSD exhibits distinct on-chain behavior. It boasts a higher per-unit velocity, with approximately $6.3 billion moving monthly, contrasting with USDT's larger absolute flows but lower rotational speed due to its parked liquidity. RLUSD flows actively rotate through settlement corridors, a characteristic reinforced by its chain distribution, where Ethereum balances lean towards liquidity provisioning and XRPL allocations drive faster payment routing. This indicates that RLUSD is rapidly migrating towards utility endpoints, driven by institutional treasury settlements and cross-border transfers. Consequently, RLUSD is increasingly framed not merely as a trading stablecoin, but as a settlement-optimized instrument, effectively complementing the market-dominant liquidity role played by stablecoins like USDT.
