Ripple XRP & RLUSD 2025: Regulatory Breakthroughs and Payment Tech Advancements

1. Technological innovation and market position of XRP

The technical architecture of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has made a breakthrough

XRP Ledger (XRPL) adopts the Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA) consensus mechanism to achieve the following technical indicators:

• Transaction speed: 1500 TPS, confirmation time 3-5 seconds (SWIFT takes 1-5 days)
• Energy efficiency: the energy consumption of a single transaction is only 0.0001% of Bitcoin.
• Interoperability of multiple chains: support for cross-chain asset transfer with Bitcoin Lightning Network and Polkadot

Source:Ripple official website

Market Performance (as of 2025/02/26)

Source:Gate.io spot trading area

Institutional Layout

As of February 26, 2025, institutions such as WisdomTree and Bitwise have indeed submitted applications for XRP spot ETF to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Analysts at JPMorgan Chase estimate that XRP ETF may attract capital inflows of 3 to 8 billion U.S. dollars within the first year of listing. However, the SEC has not yet approved these applications, and the final decision still awaits the regulatory authorities’ approval.

2. RLUSD Stablecoin: The core carrier of compliance strategy

Issuance mechanism and Compliance advantages

In December 2024, RLUSD was approved by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to become the first multi-chain compliant stablecoin:

By February 2025, the total circulation of RLUSD has exceeded the $100 million mark, with approximately 120 million tokens. Among them, around 37 million RLUSD tokens are on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), while around 83.3 million tokens are on the Ethereum blockchain. RLUSD on the XRPL accounts for about 31.2% of the total circulation, while on the Ethereum blockchain it accounts for about 68.8%.

Source:Coinmarketcap

Integration of ecosystem and DeFi applications

• XRPL ecosystem: Sologenic DEX liquidity pool TVL surpasses $50 million
• Ethereum ecosystem: Aave V4 integrated, with a collateral size of $120 million
• Central Bank Cooperation: Hong Kong e-HKD pilot uses RLUSD as the clearing anchor asset

3. Global Expansion of RippleNet and Game with SWIFT

Efficiency and cost comparison

Case study:

After Santander Bank adopts RippleNet, the cost of remittances from Europe to South America is reduced by 70%, and the processing time is shortened from 3 days to 20 seconds.

Market share competition

• RippleNet: covering 70+ countries, with a 240% annual growth in transaction volume
• SWIFT: still dominates 85% of large-value cross-border payments, but loses 35% of the market share in the small and medium-sized enterprises sector

Source:Ripple USD Stablecoin Documentation

4. Analysis of XRP Ledger (XRPL) in the fourth quarter of 2024

InMessari ResearchReleased in the fourth quarter of 2024, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) ecosystem has experienced significant growth and development. Here’s an analysis of the quarter’s key events and figures:

Market Performance

By the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, the market value of XRP reached $119.5 billion, an increase of 246% compared to the previous quarter, surpassing BTC, ETH, and SOL with a total market value increase of 44%. The price of XRP rose by 241% this quarter, and the circulating supply increased by 1.6%. It is worth noting that in December, WisdomTree became the fourth company to submit an XRP ETF application, following Bitwise, Canary, and 21 Shares who submitted applications in October and November. Additionally, WisdomTree’s physically backed ETP has been launched in the European market, and Robinhood also supports XRP trading on its platform. Grayscale launched the XRP Trust last quarter, providing eligible investors with a new investment opportunity.

Ecosystem Development

In December 2024, Ripple launched the stablecoin RLUSD pegged to the US dollar, which is currently available on platforms such as Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax, CoinMENA, Independent Reserve, and Bullish. RLUSD is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and other cash equivalents, and is audited by a third party on a monthly basis. In addition, Archax has partnered with the UK asset management company abrdn to launch a tokenized money market fund on XRPL. SG-FORGE also announced plans to issue the MiCA-compliant stablecoin EURCV on XRPL in 2025.

Governance and technological upgrades

In the fourth quarter, XRP Ledger (XRPL) implemented several important protocol upgrades, including the introduction of Decentralized Identity (DID) and Price Oracle functionality. The DID feature allows users to manage self-sovereign verifiable digital identities on XRPL, while the integration of the Price Oracle provides real-time price data support for on-chain assets. Additionally, the XRPL Foundation was registered in France with the aim of supporting the development and operation of XRPL, co-founded by XRPL Commons, XRPL Labs, Ripple, and XAO DAO.

Summary

By 2025, Ripple achieves breakthroughs in technology, compliance, and market in the XRP+RLUSD dual-track model. On the technical front, the XRPL’s 1500 TPS processing capability and $0.0002 per transaction cost have been verified for efficiency through cases like Santander Bank—reducing the time for remittances from Europe to South America from 3 days to 20 seconds, with a cost reduction of 70%. As the first multi-chain stablecoin approved by NYDFS, RLUSD quickly seizes the European market share lost by USDT due to the MiCA compliance crisis, leveraging monthly audit mechanisms and a 0.01% cross-border fee. The XRPL on-chain liquidity pool TVL breaks through $50 million, while the Ethereum DeFi collateral scale reaches $120 million.

On the market side, XRP’s market value increased by 246% on a month-on-month basis, with institutional participation accelerating: WisdomTree and Bitwise submitted ETF applications, and JPMorgan predicted that if approved, it would attract $8 billion in funds; the tokenized assets in the XRPL ecosystem exceeded $26.4 billion, with examples of RWA such as abrdn money market funds and OpenEden government bonds highlighting its advantages in traditional financial integration.

Although the finality of the SEC lawsuit (April 2025 judgment) remains a risk variable, three major trends create a historic opportunity for Ripple:

• Regulatory breakthrough: Trump nominates crypto-friendly SEC chairman, XRP may have a clear non-securities status;
• Asia Expansion: Hong Kong e-HKD and Japan DC/JPY projects will embed XRP into central bank digital currency infrastructure;
• SWIFT transformation lags behind: GPI upgrade only improves efficiency by 10%, hard to compete with blockchain native solutions.

If the resonance between the XRP ETF and the successful litigation forms, its price may break through the $6.5 resistance level and move towards the target of $10 by 2030.