An Unexpected Move from Ripple (XRP): Entering Another Undiscovered Territory

Ripple has taken a significant step forward by partnering with Wormhole to expand its $RLUSD stablecoin to Layer 2 blockchain networks.

According to a company announcement on Monday, Ripple plans to roll out $RLUSD on various Layer 2 networks, primarily Base and Optimism, next year.

Ripple stated that the future of the cryptocurrency ecosystem is moving towards a multi-chain structure, and that stablecoins must be present wherever there is demand and usage to meet the needs of both institutional finance and the growing onchain economy. In this context, the company has begun testing $RLUSD on the Optimism, Base, Ink, and Unichain networks using Wormhole's Native Token Transfers (NTT) standard. A formal launch is targeted for next year, following regulatory approvals.

Launched in December on the $XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum, $RLUSD has a total supply exceeding $1 billion according to CoinGecko data. Jack McDonald, Senior Vice President of Stablecoins at Ripple, stated that moving $RLUSD to Layer 2 networks both expands its use cases and sets a clear standard for how compatibility and on-chain efficiency can work together. McDonald said that stablecoins are a gateway for DeFi and institutional adoption, and that $RLUSD is designed as a reliable and liquid entry point into the digital asset economy.

This collaboration isn't the first integration between Ripple and Wormhole. In June, the company integrated with Wormhole to enhance the multi-chain interoperability of the $XRP Ledger. This latest step is seen as part of Ripple's strategy to make XRPL a central component of enterprise onchain finance.

On the other hand, Ripple is also making progress on the regulatory front. Last week, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) announced that it had conditionally approved a national trust bank license for Ripple National Trust Bank. If final approval is granted, $RLUSD will be subject to oversight at both the state and federal levels. According to Ripple, this represents a double-layered regulatory structure that no other stablecoin has had until now.

*This is not investment advice.