Ripple mints 11M RLUSD as supply tops $2.3B

CoinGecko placed RLUSD’s circulating supply and market capitalization at approximately $2.37 billion on Aug. 31. The stablecoin continued trading close to its intended $1 peg, meaning supply growth rather than price appreciation drove the higher valuation.

RLUSD minting does not necessarily show net demand

A stablecoin mint creates tokens at an issuer-controlled address. Those tokens may remain in treasury, move to an institutional customer or support transfers between networks.

A mint therefore does not prove that an equivalent amount entered public circulation. Likewise, a burn removes tokens from supply and can accompany customer redemptions, treasury management or network rebalancing.

The matching 11 million-token mint and burn on Aug. 31 illustrate that distinction. Viewed separately, the mint suggests expansion. Considered together, the two transactions produced no net increase from those specific operations.

Ripple did not identify the customer, purpose or economic relationship behind either transaction. The ledger records establish that the transactions occurred, but they do not establish new institutional demand.

As crypto.news previously reported, Ripple minted another 10 million RLUSD on XRPL on Aug. 17. Ripple also did not disclose the receiving customer or intended use of that issuance.

RLUSD supply moved above $2 billion in August

RLUSD crossed $2 billion in market capitalization during August, less than two years after its December 2024 launch. Ripple confirmed the milestone on Aug. 25 and said close to $1 billion had been issued on the XRP Ledger.

In related coverage, RLUSD approached an even split between XRPL and Ethereum when it crossed the threshold. Ethereum held a modestly larger amount at that time.

Available data now show continued supply expansion. CoinGecko reported approximately 2.37 billion circulating tokens on Aug. 31. XRP Ledger trackers placed the network’s portion above 1 billion tokens after several late-August mints.

Ethereum remains another major venue for RLUSD. Ripple has also extended the stablecoin to Base, Ink, Optimism, Unichain and the XRPL EVM sidechain. Public dashboards do not always provide synchronized supply totals for every network, which can produce differences between data providers.

Ripple’s reserve report trails the latest mints

Ripple’s transparency page reported $1.866 billion in circulating RLUSD and $1.981 billion in reserve funds as of Aug. 20. That official snapshot predates the latest issuance and the $2 billion milestone.

Standard Custody & Trust Company, a Ripple subsidiary supervised by the New York State Department of Financial Services, issues RLUSD. Ripple says reserves consist of cash and permitted cash equivalents held in segregated accounts.

Deloitte prepares monthly attestations covering the reported circulation and reserve balances. However, those reports are retrospective. They do not provide real-time confirmation of reserve changes after every mint or burn.

The next attestation should offer a clearer view of whether reserve assets increased alongside the late-August supply expansion.

What happens next for RLUSD

Further treasury transactions will show whether the latest mints move into circulation or are offset by additional burns. Transfers from treasury accounts to exchanges, custodians or institutional counterparties could provide more context, although wallet movements alone may not reveal their purpose.

The next reserve report will be the more important disclosure. It should show whether Ripple maintained reserve assets above circulating liabilities as RLUSD moved beyond $2 billion.

No verified XRP price movement could be directly attributed to the RLUSD transactions. RLUSD growth may add dollar liquidity to the XRP Ledger, but it does not automatically create equivalent demand for XRP.