The growing adoption of RLUSD, Ripple’s new stablecoin, has ignited a wave of debate across the XRP community. Industry insiders question whether XRP can maintain its relevance in global payments, particularly with RLUSD’s deeper integration into Ripple’s infrastructure.
Ripple introduced RLUSD in December 2024. The company recently took a major step by embedding the stablecoin into its Ripple Payments platform. While seen as a leap forward for Ripple, this integration triggered concerns among XRP supporters. Many now wonder if RLUSD might slowly replace XRP’s core function as a bridge asset.
As of April 2025, RLUSD has a market capitalization of $294 million, making it the 12th largest stablecoin. Its rapid growth and price stability appeal to institutions and retail users alike, making it a formidable force within the ecosystem in which Ripple operates.
XRP Still Has a Job; Behind the Scenes
Despite these concerns, several prominent voices within the XRP ecosystem believe XRP remains indispensable. WrathofKahneman (WOK), a respected community analyst, has addressed the issue head-on. He acknowledged RLUSD’s appeal for direct payments due to its stable value but emphasized that XRP still plays a silent yet critical role.
WOK highlighted a core feature of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) known as autobridging. This feature enables XRP to act as an intermediary currency when no direct trading path exists between two assets. For instance, if a user wants to convert RLUSD to euros without a direct pair, XRPL may use XRP to complete the trade seamlessly.
According to WOK, this makes XRP a vital source of liquidity in the background, even if users never see it. He argued that RLUSD and XRP serve complementary, not competing, purposes and urged the community to grasp the technology before jumping to conclusions.
Not Everyone Buys the Autobridging Narrative
However, not all experts share WOK’s optimism. Daniel Keller, CTO of Eminence and an XRPL node operator, offered a more skeptical take. He appreciated WOK’s explanation but questioned the practical relevance of autobridging in today’s markets.
Keller argued that in most real-world scenarios, users prefer direct asset swaps. He claimed that autobridging primarily applies to IOUs and representations of other assets issued on the XRPL and doesn’t frequently affect major transactions. According to him, RLUSD already covers most use cases that XRP used to fulfill.
He advised the community to focus on the stablecoin’s benefits instead of clinging to theoretical mechanisms. “Let’s not overcomplicate XRP’s narrative,” Keller remarked, suggesting that RLUSD’s simplicity and backing by Ripple offer more tangible value.
A Hypothetical Scenario and Its Limits
To illustrate his point, Keller proposed a scenario involving two obscure tokens that lack a direct trading pair. In such a case, the XRPL would use XRP to bridge the transaction automatically, ensuring the trade goes through with minimal friction.
Although he praised this concept as “brilliant,” he quickly pointed out its limitations. In his view, most substantial trades happen within deep liquidity pools and direct pairs, making the need for XRP’s intermediary role less frequent than some suggest.
Ripple Executives Offer Reassurance
The debate around XRP’s role isn’t new. Even before RLUSD’s official rollout, Ripple executives attempted to reassure the community. Back in October 2024, Ripple CTO David Schwartz confirmed that XRP would remain essential for settling payments on the XRPL. He reiterated that autobridging would continue to be a key use case.
During the same period, Monica Long, Ripple’s President, echoed this sentiment. She stated that Ripple’s vision includes using both XRP and RLUSD side by side, leveraging each asset’s strengths for different aspects of the payments ecosystem.
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Can XRP Survive the Stablecoin Surge?
The discussion around XRP’s future is far from over. While RLUSD continues to expand its footprint within Ripple’s ecosystem, XRP still anchors key processes behind the scenes. Autobridging, although contested, remains a technical backbone for facilitating certain trades.
Still, if stablecoins like RLUSD dominate most payment flows, XRP must evolve or risk becoming overshadowed. Both assets have roles now, but only time will tell which one leads Ripple’s payments strategy in the long run.
