XRP and stablecoins are not rivals, XRPL validator says

A debate among XRP Ledger community figures has put fresh focus on how stablecoins, payments and XRP may work together on XRPL. 

In an Eri post, the researcher said Ripple has used Tether and USDC stablecoins to support On-Demand Liquidity flows, while liquidity on XRPL remains central.

Eri also said XRP has use cases outside payments, including collateral and DeFi. The post pointed to future financial products on XRPL that may use XRP in ways beyond simple transfer settlement.

Stablecoin sandwich gets clarified

Vet, an XRPL dUNL validator and XRPL Foundation contributor, responded that he sees “XRP and Stablecoins as complementary parts of the stack.” In a Vet post, he said a stablecoin sandwich works like a normal payment, not a cross-currency payment.

He said local currency swaps can happen at the sender and receiver ends. In that setup, the swap does not need to happen on-chain or touch the XRPL DEX. Still, he said quality assets and stablecoins are needed so service providers can build reliable payment flows.

In addition, Vet argued that once many issued currencies exist on-chain, markets still need a bridge asset. Without one, liquidity can split across too many direct pairs. He said XRP can serve that role on the XRP Ledger when a bridge transaction makes sense.

As crypto.news reported earlier, XRPL Foundation’s AMM proposal would add StableSwap and concentrated liquidity to improve stablecoin, RWA and DeFi pricing. The proposal aims to reduce slippage for assets that trade close to the same value, including stablecoins.

XRP’s neutral bridge role stays debated

Vet said an issued asset should not become the main bridge asset on a decentralized network because regulated issuers follow local laws. He argued that native assets are better suited for neutral bridging where no single issuer controls the system.

According to an earlier crypto.news report, RLUSD’s 40-chain rollout expanded Ripple’s stablecoin access for payments, tokenization and institutional liquidity. crypto.news previously reported that XRP Ledger utility beyond payments is moving into tokenized assets, DeFi and lending.

The debate does not settle whether stablecoins reduce or strengthen XRP demand. It shows that XRPL builders see the two as separate tools. Stablecoins may handle routes where price-stable settlement works, while XRP may still matter where neutral cross-asset liquidity is needed.