Most of Ripple USD’s $2.44 Billion Sits Off XRPL

Ripple USD printed a supply record near $2.5 billion on September 22. The token still trades at $1. The number is issuance, not a price breakout, and most of the new dollars are not sitting on the XRP Ledger.

On September 26, RWA.xyz showed a $2.44 billion circulating market cap, up 13.83% over 30 days, with $1.33 billion on Ethereum and $1.10 billion on XRPL. That split is the part the victory lap leaves out.

Most of the New Dollars Landed on Ethereum

RLUSD, issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, a Ripple subsidiary under New York trust rules, launched on December 17, 2024 on both XRPL and Ethereum. For a stretch in mid-2026 the ledger took the lead. It does not hold that lead now.

RWA.xyz’s September 26 book puts 54.8% of supply on Ethereum and 45.2% on XRPL. The price is $1.0001. Holders total 82,947, down 2.25% over 30 days, while monthly transfer volume is $17.14 billion across 12,663 active addresses. The float grew. The holder count did not.

RLUSD SUPPLY BY NETWORK

On-chain dashboards show why Ethereum pulled ahead. Lending vaults and pools can lock large balances in one contract. XRPL.to’s September 25 snapshot named the Aave lending contract as the largest Ethereum holder at about $330 million, with Ripple’s own deployer near $114 million and the Curve RLUSD/USDC pool near $24 million. Those three wallets are inventory, not a payments crowd.

The same tracker counted 67,329 RLUSD holders on the XRP Ledger against 12,655 on Ethereum. Average balances ran about $15,900 on XRPL and $105,800 on Ethereum. More people hold the token on Ripple’s chain. The heavy bags live on Ethereum.

The XRP Ledger’s Dollar Layer Has One Issuer

DefiLlama’s XRPL stablecoin tracker puts total pegged assets on the ledger at $1.192 billion, up $65 million in seven days and 11.06% over 30 days. RLUSD’s $1.10 billion is 92.3% of that stack. The dollar layer on XRPL is Ripple’s token with a thin rim of other issuers.

THE REST OF XRPL’S STABLECOIN FLOAT

• Valtorum USD: USDV holds $72.77 million, the only other dollar token with any real size, and it is down 7.03% over 30 days.
• EUR CoinVertible: Société Générale-FORGE’s euro token sits at $11.39 million.
• USD Coin: Circle’s USDC on XRPL is $4.62 million, a rounding error next to RLUSD.

That mix is a single-issuer rail with a few foreign-currency side cars. If Standard Custody pauses mints, delays redemptions, or gets a New York order, XRPL does not have a second dollar of similar size to route through. The 92.3% share is execution. It is also concentration.

USDC’s tiny XRPL balance makes the point another way. Circle’s token is the default dollar on most chains. On this ledger it barely registers. Traders who want a dollar on XRPL are, in practice, choosing RLUSD or leaving.

Ripple Confirmed a $2 Billion Mark in August

The September print did not come from nowhere. Ripple spent 2026 stacking distribution, then the supply chart followed. The dates that matter are issuance events, not candles.

HOW THE FLOAT GOT HERE

1. December 17, 2024: Standard Custody issues RLUSD on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum under a NYDFS limited-purpose trust charter.
2. July 9, 2025: Ripple names The Bank of New York Mellon for primary custody of RLUSD reserves.
3. June 3, 2026: Mastercard says it will support RLUSD among regulated stablecoins for card settlement, including on XRPL.
4. June 26, 2026: XRPL supply overtakes Ethereum for the first time, a lead that does not hold into September.
5. August 25, 2026: Ripple says RLUSD crossed $2 billion in market cap the prior week, with close to $1 billion issued on XRPL.
6. September 3, 2026: Ripple’s transparency page shows $2,395.6 million circulating against $2,517.7 million in reserve funds.
7. September 22, 2026: Circulating supply prints a record near $2.5 billion. Four days later RWA.xyz still reads $2.44 billion.

Ripple’s August 25 post put the $2 billion crossing in writing: “RLUSD crossed $2B in market cap last week, with close to $1B issued on the XRP Ledger.” Less than a month later the book is larger, and Ethereum, not XRPL, holds the extra dollars.

A Settlement Menu With Six Tokens and Eight Chains

Mastercard’s June 3 release is the integration most often cited as proof that RLUSD is becoming rail money. Read the list. The network said it would add intraday, weekend and holiday card settlement in fiat and in regulated stablecoins, and RLUSD is one name among six.

The tokens are Circle’s USDC, Paxos-issued PYUSD, USDG and USDP, Ripple’s RLUSD, and SoFiUSD. The chains are Arbitrum, Base, Canton, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tempo, and XRPL. Early names on the rollout are ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei, first in the United States and Latin America.

Mastercard’s move into on-chain settlement is a landmark validation that blockchain technology is ready for the world’s most critical payment infrastructure. RLUSD’s inclusion in Mastercard’s global settlement network reflects growing demand for trusted, regulated stablecoins built for real-world financial use cases on public blockchains like the XRP Ledger.

Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins, Ripple, Mastercard settlement release

Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s executive vice president for blockchain and digital assets, framed the same product as choice on timing and liquidity, not as an XRPL exclusive. A bank that settles in RLUSD on XRPL can also settle in USDC on Solana or PYUSD on Ethereum. The press release is a menu. It is not a mandate that the new $2.44 billion has to live on Ripple’s chain.

Japan’s SBI VC Trade listing, which opened RLUSD under JFSA rules in June, had the same shape. The first venue took the Ethereum version. Distribution and the ledger that holds the coins are not the same decision.

Reserve Reports Still Lag the Latest Mints

Every new RLUSD token is a claim on cash, bills, and cash equivalents held for Standard Custody, not a claim on XRP. Ripple’s white paper says the issuer keeps a 3% reserve buffer so assets equal at least 103% of coins in circulation. BNY holds the non-cash slice in segregated accounts. A U.S. CPA attests monthly, with reports due no more than 30 days after month-end.

The public dashboard is slower than the mint button. Ripple’s page still posted September 3 circulating and reserve balances when supply was already printing higher later in the month.

THE SEPTEMBER 3 RESERVE SNAPSHOT

• Coins outstanding: $2,395.6 million of RLUSD in circulation as of September 3, 2026.
• Reserve funds: $2,517.7 million, or $122.1 million above coins on that date.
• Coverage: 105.1% on that snapshot, above the 103% policy floor.
• Attestation lag: the next CPA report is due after month-end, so the $2.44 billion book is still waiting on a matching exam.

A 105.1% reading on September 3 does not automatically cover every token minted between then and September 22. It shows the last published cushion. Ripple has also described a conditional OCC nod for Ripple National Trust Bank, which would sit as collateral trustee of the reserves if Standard Custody failed. Until that bank is live, the New York trust company remains the issuer of record.

What XRP Holders Get From a Larger Dollar Float

XRP is still the fee token. Sending RLUSD on the ledger burns a tiny XRP fee, and an account needs a trust line plus a reserve. That is real demand, measured in fractions of a cent, not in the $2.44 billion. The stablecoin can grow a long way before those fees move XRP’s market cap.

Bridge use is the better argument, and it is still an argument. XRPL can route through XRP when that path is cheaper than a direct issued-asset pair. A deeper RLUSD book makes those paths more useful for payments and treasury desks. It does not give XRP holders a claim on Standard Custody’s reserves, and it does not turn supply growth into upside convexity in the token they actually hold.

That is the gap inside the celebration. People treat a larger RLUSD float as if it were an XRP earnings print. It is closer to a bank adding deposits. The deposits make the rail more useful. The equity story is a separate file, and it still runs through fees, reserves, and whether desks keep using XRP as the bridge instead of parking in the dollar token and staying there.

A second tell is how little of the new money needs XRPL at all. Ethereum already has Aave, Curve, and Morpho. If those contracts keep absorbing RLUSD because a NYDFS dollar is useful collateral, Ripple can hit supply records while XRPL’s share of its own stablecoin slips. The June flip showed the ledger can take the lead. The September book shows it can lose it again without the headline number falling.

Redemption Capacity Is the Constraint That Matters

Issuance is the easy chart. Direct customers, exchanges, market makers, and other onboarded firms mint and redeem with Standard Custody. Retail buys on exchanges and never touches the issuer. The $2.44 billion is the stock of those claims. The test is whether the cash window still opens when someone wants out.

Redemption, not another mint, is the constraint. A float that lives in Aave and Curve can look deep until those contracts unwind in the same week a payments desk wants $1.00. Monthly attestations, a 103% policy floor, and BNY custody are the design for that week. They are not a live proof for the coins added after September 3.

Watch the next CPA packet against the $2.44 billion book, and watch whether XRPL’s 45.2% share rises or keeps leaking to Ethereum. The record near $2.5 billion on September 22 is real. It is also a larger IOU from one New York trust company, and most of it is sitting on a chain Ripple does not run.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of public supply, reserve, and settlement figures for Ripple USD. It is informational only and is not investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell RLUSD, XRP, or any other token, and not legal or tax advice on stablecoin issuance or redemption. Readers who are considering a position or a treasury use case should consult a licensed financial adviser and, where needed, counsel familiar with New York trust-company and digital-asset rules. Market caps, chain splits, reserve balances, and product rollouts reflect the cited pages as of the dates given in the article and can change with the next mint, burn, or attestation.