Ethereum Holds Two-Thirds of Ripple’s $2.6 Billion RLUSD Stablecoin Even as Ripple CEO Pushes XRP Ledger

Ripple Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse wants the company’s $2.6 billion RLUSD stablecoin to run on the XRP Ledger, even though about two-thirds of its total supply now sits on the Ethereum (ETH-USD) network. According to data from DefiLlama, roughly $1.72 billion of the $2.57 billion RLUSD in circulation lives on Ethereum, while the XRP Ledger holds about $850 million.

The gap between the two networks has grown wider over the past month. RLUSD supply on Ethereum rose by about a third over the last 30 days, while the XRP Ledger lost nearly the same share.

Brad Garlinghouse Defends XRP’s Role Against Stablecoin Rumors

Some XRP token (XRP-USD) holders have worried that Ripple’s growing stablecoin business could take value away from the XRP token. On Tuesday, Garlinghouse replied to an XRP user on social media platform X to draw a clear line between the two assets.

“RLUSD isn’t competing with XRP. It’s competing with other stablecoins. Use case matters, and I want those use cases running on the XRPL,” Garlinghouse wrote on X.

Garlinghouse also praised a post from an XRP Ledger developer explaining how the tokens differ. Ripple issues RLUSD and can freeze those tokens when needed, while no single company can freeze XRP.

In addition, every account on the XRP Ledger needs an XRP reserve and pays all transaction fees in XRP. At the Swell 2026 conference last week, Garlinghouse called the two assets “very complementary” and rejected rumors that Ripple was ditching XRP.

Ethereum Has Retaken the Lead Through Lending Demand

The shift toward Ethereum reverses a brief summer trend. The XRP Ledger passed Ethereum in late June to hold 52% of all RLUSD, CoinDesk data shows, before Ethereum took back the lead in late August.

Ethereum attracts more users because it offers a deeper decentralized finance (DeFi) market, including lending platform Aave, while the XRP Ledger still lacks native lending tools.

Even so, RLUSD’s total market value has grown more than 88% this year. Ripple also recently won federal approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter covering RLUSD reserves, and banking giant BNY (BNY) added both XRP and RLUSD to its custody platform.

How Could This Impact XRP’s Price?

For XRP’s price, the stablecoin’s shift to Ethereum limits the direct boost that XRP holders had hoped for.

When users move RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, every transfer burns a tiny amount of XRP for transaction fees and locks up XRP in wallet reserves, which reduces overall supply.

With two-thirds of RLUSD activity happening on Ethereum instead, the XRP token misses out on that extra network demand. XRP still rose 2.3% to reclaim the $1.30 level on Wednesday, and analysts at Santiment note that holding above $1.30 could help the token test $1.40, while a drop below $1.20 risks bigger losses.