Stablecoins Replace XRP in Major 2026 Settlements

In 2026 regulated dollar stablecoins were used as the settlement asset in several large institutional transactions on the XRP Ledger. In May 2026 a pilot involving JPMorgan, Mastercard, Ondo and Ripple cleared a tokenized U.S. Treasury trade on the ledger in under five seconds. The settlement value moved through RLUSD while XRP covered network fees of about $0.00001 per transaction. Convera, the payments firm spun out of Western Union, integrated with Ripple in 2026 and chose RLUSD for settlement.

RLUSD launched in December 2024. Its market capitalization rose from about $50 million at launch to a peak near $1.78 billion in May 2026 and was around $1.59 billion by June 2026. Total stablecoin supply on the XRP Ledger grew from about $277 million at the start of 2026 to $907 million by June, with RLUSD representing roughly 84% of that on-ledger stablecoin supply.

XRP’s market performance differed from on-ledger stablecoin growth. XRP reached a high near $3.65 in July 2025 and traded near $1.08 by late June 2026, a decline of about 69% from the cycle high and about 38% year-to-date. Spot XRP exchange-traded products launched in late 2025 gathered over $1 billion in assets, while daily net inflows trended downward. One bank adjusted its 2026 price target for XRP from $8.00 to $2.80.

Ripple reports more than 300 financial institutions on RippleNet. Roughly 40% of those institutions use XRP for On-Demand Liquidity settlement. The remaining institutions use RippleNet’s messaging rails to move fiat payments without using XRP.

Stablecoin liquidity is deep in dollar pairs and thin in many emerging-market corridors. In routes with limited stablecoin liquidity, a floating bridge asset can source liquidity on demand when a local stablecoin market is not available. Ripple describes a hybrid model in which stablecoins provide price stability and bridge assets supply liquidity where needed. Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity processed an estimated $15 billion in volume in 2024 and has been reported to grow at an annual rate of 30% to 40%.

U.S. banks including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup plan a shared tokenized deposit network through The Clearing House with a target launch in the first half of 2027. Tokenized bank deposits would carry legal treatment familiar to corporate treasurers that regulated stablecoins and bridge assets do not currently provide.

Regulatory treatment of settlement assets varies by jurisdiction. RLUSD’s market capitalization remains smaller than the largest dollar stablecoins. Ripple expanded RLUSD into regulated settlement pilots, including trade-finance testing in Singapore and new payments corridors, while banks and other providers continue testing tokenized deposit and hybrid models.

Market participants are using regulated dollar stablecoins for dollar-denominated flows, bridge tokens in corridors where stablecoin liquidity is thin, and tokenized bank deposits where legal certainty is required.