On Wall Street, Ripple is gaining ground. XRP, however, isn’t sharing in the gains.
The divide became hard to miss in October 2026, when Standard Chartered rolled out a custody service for Ripple USD (RLUSD), Ripple’s stablecoin. With the new offering, cautious funds can keep digital dollars at a regulated European bank, so they no longer need to park them on a crypto exchange.
Ripple’s best-known token has become optional
Ripple and XRP spent years being viewed as a single bet. This launch loosens that bond. Ripple is putting together an institutional network in which its native token could end up as an optional component.
Analysts at Santiment reach a similar conclusion. In their view, the development shows Ripple can compete in the major leagues even if XRP doesn’t grow alongside it.
The data points the same way. The XRP price has stalled, while RLUSD issuance is growing strongly and organically. The stablecoin’s market capitalization now sits at $2.41 billion. That ranks it 39th among stablecoins worldwide, just behind PayPal USD at $2.9 billion.
Banks want something to settle with, not something to trade
Large pools of capital don’t want volatility. To banks, RLUSD is purely a settlement instrument, and that is precisely its design.
RLUSD is also multi-chain, so many of its transactions take place off the XRP Ledger. As a result, XRP is no longer the sole fuel powering Ripple’s network. Ripple itself is turning toward two businesses with higher margins: managing fiat reserves and earning infrastructure fees.
Custody isn’t the end of the pipeline. Ripple, Standard Chartered and LMAX Group are wrapping up tests of a cross-platform collateral system. Under that arrangement, funds could hold RLUSD in bank accounts while brokers treat the same balance as collateral for open trading positions.
The investors are closing ranks as well
These players are also linked through equity. SC Ventures, the venture arm of Standard Chartered, invested in OKX alongside Ripple and Circle in a round that put the platform’s valuation at $25 billion.
Taken as a whole, the major players are assembling a closed settlement network that handles only dollar stablecoins. No part of that structure requires a volatile asset at its core.
The XRP burn argument falls short
Some in the XRP community argue that RLUSD activity will cause an XRP shortage, because XRP Ledger fees are burned. The math doesn’t back this up. Network fees are microscopic, and even large RLUSD volumes won’t burn enough XRP to shift supply in any meaningful way.
Timing works against the theory too. Banks take on Ripple products through closed compliance tests that last for months, so a sudden jump in on-chain demand shouldn’t be expected.
Ripple is earning real money from traditional finance, but it’s doing so in a parallel world. If you hold XRP and expect Standard Chartered’s custody desk to push the price higher, keep in mind that, for now, XRP is still standing outside that club.