According to comments from Ripple CTO David Schwartz, XRP is at the heart of Ripple’s payment system despite highlighting the new Stablecoin, RLUSD.
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Ripple’s leading high-tech officers emphasized that XRP remains a major bridge asset in cross-border transactions. Additionally, the wider use of XRP ledgers will continue to improve Altcoin’s utility and value.
XRP remains at the heart of Ripple payments
In a recent exchange, XRP supporters pointed out that Ripple refers to RLUSD more frequently than XRP. Schwartz responded that he doesn’t have the exact numbers on hand, but he is confident that Ripple uses XRP much more than any other digital assets for its payment services.
I don’t have a number before me, but I’m sure XRP is warping all other assets as a bridge to pay for Ripple.
I think we won with a collateral use case (unstable collateral is a nuisance) and an edge use case (volatility on/off ramps is also also…).
– David ‘Joelkatz’ Schwartz (@Joelkatz) July 30, 2025
Based on the report, XRP still dominates as a bridge currency when moving money from one Fiat to another. Its role will help institutions send funds quickly and cheaply, even when market fluctuations are not ideal.
Ripple launched RLUSD in December 2024 to meet the demand for stable prices. According to Schwartz, Stablecoins like RLUSD make sense in use cases that rely on fixed values. This can be when a company uses Crypto assets as collateral or enters and out of the market without risking a 5% swing overnight.
He noted that Hidden Road, one of Ripple’s major partners, working with over 300 institutions, selected RLUSD as its main collateral asset in May 2025.
Stablecoin Role and Altcoin Utility
Schwartz drew a clear line between the two tokens. If price predictability is the most important task, Stablecoin can help you avoid hiccups. But for most payments, I believe liquid assets like XRP will do a better job. Holding key digital assets can be seen upside down, and XRP fits better than cash, he said.
Adoption drives XRP demand
Schwartz emphasized that the actual use of XRP ledgers naturally promotes more demand for crypto, Schwartz emphasized. As more projects and agencies take advantage of XRPL’s fast transaction speeds and low fees, XRP will be needed to power each move.
Its design avoids the native tokens of coins, and avoids them more than other networks where developers can wrap or bypass basecoins entirely.
Schwartz’s remarks arrive amid concerns in the community that XRP is being watched by in favour of stablecoins. The Hidden Road to Back RLUSD selection raised an eyebrow in May 2025.
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XRP Use Cases
However, it highlights that XRP is deeply woven into the mechanics of XRPL, reminding investors that Altcoin’s volume still outweighs other assets in Ripple Payment. Schwartz sent a clear message.
Based on these comments, it appears that Ripple is taking two approaches: If price stability is important, we use RLUSD and rely on XRP to rely on its proven liquidity and roles built into ledgers.
This strategy helps keep both tokens busy across different parts of the crypto economy, ensuring that XRP remains relevant even as new products emerge.
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