Ripple chases AI’s machine economy as XRPL stablecoins near $1 billion
Stablecoin liquidity on the XRP Ledger has surged, rising about 97% in 30 days to roughly $770 million by DeFiLlama, or about $901.7 million by RWA.xyz, putting XRPL close to a $1 billion milestone. RLUSD is driving nearly all of that growth, making Ripple unusually influential over the network’s dollar layer. Ripple is using that momentum to pitch XRPL as infrastructure for AI-agent payments: software agents that can pay for APIs, cloud compute, data, and invoices without manual approval. The company launched the XRPL AI Starter Kit and added support for x402 payments using XRP or RLUSD, emphasizing fast settlement, low predictable fees, and built-in controls like escrow, multi-signing, and deposit authorization. The strategy is aimed at enterprise and institutional use cases where dollar settlement and compliance matter more than retail crypto activity. But the key question is whether current stablecoin growth reflects durable payment demand or early positioning ahead of a still-developing agentic payments market.
