In October, the volume of RLUSD transfers on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) surpassed that on Ethereum, but this apparent lead comes with an important caveat: more of this stablecoin is still held on Ethereum. The contrast between transaction activity and circulating supply raises a larger question for Ripple’s dollar-pegged token: Is the XRPL truly becoming a major settlement network, or are some impressive metrics making adoption appear stronger than it actually is?
According to October data, XRPL processed approximately $20.056 billion in RLUSD transfers, compared to $15.449 billion on Ethereum. Of the total $35.506 billion in reported transfers, XRPL accounted for 57%. This represents a notable monthly reversal, but it does not indicate that XRPL has a larger RLUSD economic footprint.
According to DefiLlama data as of November 13, RLUSD on Ethereum is approximately $1.855 billion, while on XRPL it is $818.57 million. In other words, the RLUSD supply recorded on Ethereum is currently more than twice that on XRPL.
These metrics measure different dimensions. Transfer volume reflects the value transferred over a given period, while circulating supply measures the number of tokens existing on a chain at a specific point in time. A high transfer volume can result from a small number of tokens being repeatedly transferred, which may indicate exchange transfers, internal movements, or settlement flows—not necessarily more customers or more real-world payments.
Bitquery identifies issues behind the number of payments.
Another reason to approach XRPL activity data with caution: Bitquery analyzed RLUSD payments between September 19 and October 18, identifying 7.82 million transactions. Approximately 99.6% of these were sent by a cluster of 110 wallets to just three aggregation addresses, involving a total of only 7,722 RLUSD.
This statistic refers to the number of transactions, not their USD value. Bitquery separately observed payments of at least 1 RLUSD each, measuring a total value of $7.33 billion. The top ten sending wallets accounted for $6.05 billion, approximately 82%. The issuer’s minting and redemption activities also represented a significant portion of the observed cash flow.
These findings do not prove that all large transfers are artificially created. Exchanges, custodians, and payment processors may indeed legally move large sums of money through a small number of wallets. However, this data suggests that the raw number of transactions is not a reliable shortcut for measuring adoption.
Cross River provides infrastructure, but not proof of demand.
Cross River Bank announced on October 15 that it has integrated RLUSD into its core banking system, enabling eligible businesses and fintech companies to access USD and RLUSD payment services through a single API. This represents a meaningful infrastructure advancement, though the announcement did not disclose actual RLUSD payment volumes.
Therefore, the bigger story isn't just that XRPL surpassed Ethereum in October. RLUSD has seen higher transaction volumes on XRPL, while Ethereum still holds a larger supply. Whether this gap signifies lasting institutional adoption depends on whether there is transparent evidence that the payment activity is sustained and meaningful—not merely another headline-grabbing volume spike.
