LemonTrades
TL;DR
- No. A stablecoin is pegged to a currency, usually $1, and backed by cash or bonds. XRP has no peg, and its price swings like other crypto.
- Ripple’s stablecoin is RLUSD, launched in December 2024. It’s backed by dollars and US government debt, and runs on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.
- XRP is used to pay transaction fees on the XRP Ledger and to move money between currencies.
- LemonTrades tells you what moved XRP, and why, as it happens, with alerts on sharp moves.
Here’s XRP’s live price. If it were a stablecoin, it would sit at $1.00.
XRP vs a stablecoin
| XRP | RLUSD | USDC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meant to be worth | Whatever the market pays | $1 | $1 |
| Backed by | Nothing | Dollars, Treasuries, cash equivalents | Dollars and Treasuries |
| Issued by | Created at launch in 2012 | Ripple | Circle |
| Supply | Fixed at 100 billion | Grows and shrinks with demand | Grows and shrinks with demand |
| Used for | Fees, payments, speculation | Payments, trading | Payments, trading |
Why people get confused
- Ripple built XRP to help banks move money across borders, which sounds like a stablecoin’s job.
- Ripple then launched RLUSD on the same network.
- Some videos and ads wrongly promise XRP will be “pegged” to a high price. It won’t be.
What US law says
The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, sets rules for US dollar stablecoins: full backing with cash or short-term Treasuries, and regular reports on reserves. XRP isn’t covered, because it isn’t a stablecoin. Rules for tokens like XRP were meant to come in a separate market law, the CLARITY Act, whose chances fell after the midterms.
Which should you hold?
Neither is a savings account. A stablecoin aims to hold its value and can still lose its peg; XRP can rise or fall a lot. Mining isn’t an option either: see can you mine XRP. For the wider market, see is crypto dead.
Sources
Education, not financial advice. Crypto can fall sharply and you can lose all of your money. See our disclaimer.
