Liquidity has become a major engine in the current market.
The logic is simple – As TradFi continues to integrate with DeFi, stablecoins now sit at the core of this shift. Because of this, the stablecoin market reaching $320 billion highlights where real capital is concentrated.
Against this backdrop, it’s worth asking whether Layer-1s with native stablecoins have a structural advantage. In Ripple’s case, RLUSD on the XRPL makes this point, recently reinforced by a key development.
Stablecoins drive XRPL growth despite XRP price dip
2025 proved to be bullish on one key aspect – Fundamentals.
Notably, Ripple showed this divergence clearly. The back-to-back Q4 crashes didn’t spare XRP, which closed the year down 11.56%. It broke its $2-support despite multiple moves to expand into the growing DeFi space.
Under the surface though, XRPL kept growing. The driver? Stablecoins. On XRPL, the stablecoin market cap jumped by almost 300% by year-end – A sign suggesting that XRP’s fundamentals were stronger than the price.
Source: DeFilLama
On top of that, RLUSD surpassed $1 billion in market cap.
In fact, Binance highlighted it as one of just six stablecoins to reach that milestone in 2025. The result? Strong capital flows, as evidenced by XRPL’s total tokenized asset value, which soared by 4,160%, closing at $213 million.
Taken together, it’s clear that despite XRP’s technical weakness in 2025, its on-chain ecosystem attracted significant capital, with RLUSD acting as the main liquidity engine while Ripple strengthened its fundamentals.
Naturally, the question is – Will XRP finally reflect this growth in 2026?
Ripple secures permission to operate in the U.K
Ripple has kicked off 2026, demonstrating the impact of its 2025 FUD.
Recently, it secured official approval to operate in the U.K, allowing the company to expand payment services. In other words, Ripple has gained legitimacy to work with banks, further strengthening its L1 positioning.
At the same time, the stablecoin market cap on XRPL hit a record $405 million, rising by 11.5% in just 7 days. This update highlights how stablecoins continue to sit at the core of the growing integration between TradFi and DeFi.
Source: CoinGecko
In this context, the $40 million RLUSD minted on XRPL isn’t random.
As the chart shows, RLUSD’s market cap has hit $1.38 billion, reflecting massive liquidity growth on the network. It’s no surprise that this liquidity is now attracting major players, including the U.K, in its approval case.
The logic is simple – The more liquidity an L1 has, the deeper its capital deployment. Consequently, this drives faster transactions and stronger throughput, which helps explain Ripple’s approval.
In short, native stablecoins are reshaping Ripple’s institutional game. With 2026 off to a strong start and XRP already up 14%, this momentum could be just the beginning of its next growth cycle.
Final Thoughts
- Despite XRP’s 2025 price dips, RLUSD and other stablecoins fueled massive on-chain liquidity.
- Official U.K approval and RLUSD market cap highlight how native stablecoins are powering faster transactions.
