Ripple Labs is piloting a multichain expansion of its US dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, moving it onto Ethereum layer-2 blockchains while awaiting regulatory approval for a full launch next year.
The pilot, launched in collaboration with Wormhole—a cross-chain interoperability protocol that enables assets to transfer between blockchains—will test RLUSD on Optimism, Base, Ink, and Unichain, Ripple said in a Monday statement.
Originally issued on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, Ripple described the latest rollout as “essential for a scalable, efficient, and interoperable future.”
“The future of crypto is undeniably multichain, and to truly serve both institutional finance and the growing onchain economy, stablecoins must exist wherever demand and utility are.”
“As blockchain networks continue to develop for real-world applications, the demand for a fully regulated stablecoin has never been greater,” Ripple added.
RLUSD moves natively across chains
Wormhole announced on X Monday that its Native Token Transfers standard will enable RLUSD to move between blockchains as the original token, rather than as a synthetic or wrapped version. This approach helps preserve liquidity.
In many multichain setups, tokens are locked on their original blockchain while a wrapped version is created on the new chain—but RLUSD will avoid this model.
“With NTT, token issuers can avoid fragmented liquidity and wrapped assets, allowing a single, canonical version of RLUSD to exist natively on each blockchain, with Ripple retaining control of the contracts,” Wormhole added.
Expansion to more chains planned
RLUSD is set to launch on additional blockchains next year, pending final regulatory approval, Ripple said.
The stablecoin is issued under a New York Department of Financial Services Trust Company Charter, and Ripple has also applied for a federal trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to bring it under federal oversight.
Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, described stablecoins as the “gateway to DeFi and institutional adoption.”
“By launching RLUSD—the first US Trust Regulated stablecoin on these L2 networks—we are not just expanding utility; we are setting the definitive standard where compliance and onchain efficiency converge.”
RLUSD market cap reaches $1.3 billion
Since its launch in December 2024, RLUSD has grown to a market capitalization of $1.3 billion, according to CoinGecko.
By comparison, the largest stablecoin, Tether’s USDT, has a market cap of $186 billion, Circle’s USDC sits at $78 billion, and Sky Protocol’s USDS ranks third with $9.8 billion.
RLUSD has seen increasing adoption among retail users, fueled by integrations with platforms like Transak and expanding use across self-custodial wallets such as Xaman.
