The fund targets infrastructure and scalable blockchain use cases, with a focus on emerging markets.
Market makers have reduced activity since the Oct. 10 crash, while ETF flows signal lower institutional participation.
The raise follows HashKey’s $206 million IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Institutional capital is taking a longer view of crypto markets as short-term liquidity thins out.
That shift is reflected in the first close of a new fund by HashKey Capital, which has secured $250 million in commitments despite choppier trading conditions.
The rise highlights how large investors are repositioning after a volatile period marked by heavy liquidations, ETF outflows, and retreating market makers.
Rather than chasing near-term price moves, capital is increasingly being directed toward infrastructure, financial technology, and real-world blockchain applications with longer-run potential.
Fund strategy and scale
HashKey Capital said its fourth crypto-focused vehicle, the HashKey Fintech Multi-Strategy Fund IV, exceeded expectations at its first close and is targeting a final size of $500 million.
The fund is designed to deploy capital across multiple strategies, with a focus on core infrastructure and scalable use cases aimed at broader adoption.
According to the firm, emerging markets are expected to play a central role, as these regions are increasingly acting as testing grounds for blockchain-based financial services and applications.
Institutional conviction on the back foot
The timing of the close is notable. Crypto markets have been adjusting after a sharp sell-off earlier in October, when a major liquidation event triggered widespread deleveraging.
In a Tuesday post on X, 10x Research said many traders and market makers had reduced activity following the Oct. 10 crash, contributing to thinner liquidity.
Since early November, the 30-day moving average of net flows into US spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs has turned negative, suggesting that capital is being redeployed or held on the sidelines as conditions tighten.
Track record and expansion
Fund IV builds on HashKey Capital’s established presence in Asia’s digital asset sector.
Since launching in 2018, the firm has grown to manage more than $1 billion in assets and has invested in over 400 projects globally.
Its first fund recorded a distributed-to-paid-in ratio of more than 10x, underlining the scale of returns achieved in earlier cycles.
The firm is headquartered in Singapore and operates across Hong Kong and Japan.
It is part of the broader HashKey Group, which was among the first in Hong Kong to secure a crypto exchange licence.
The group has also been involved in launching the city’s first spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, adding to its regulatory and market footprint.
The fundraise comes shortly after HashKey’s entry into public markets.
Last week, the company made its trading debut on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong following a $206 million initial public offering.
The listing adds another layer of visibility at a time when scrutiny of crypto firms remains high and access to traditional capital markets is becoming more selective.
The collaboration follows the launch of the Monad mainnet in November 2025.
Chorus One secures more than $3.5 billion across 30 blockchains.
More than $6 million was staked during the first week of the programme.
Chorus One has partnered with cryptocurrency exchange Bitget to expand access to Monad staking at a global scale.
The collaboration focuses on simplifying how users interact with the Monad network, which launched its mainnet in November 2025.
The move places emphasis on infrastructure growth, user access, and the broader shift toward staking services.
Both companies confirmed that Bitget’s more than 120 million users will be able to access staking tools through Chorus One’s platform, creating new pathways for participation in the growing staking economy.
Validator expansion
The Monad network is a layer one blockchain that emphasises high throughput.
It supports Ethereum contracts without requiring any code changes, according to its technical documentation.
The focus of the integration between Bitget and Chorus One is to support a validator environment that can grow with decentralisation, geographic diversity, and long-term stability.
Chorus One already secures assets across more than 30 blockchains and reports securing over $3.5 billion in staked assets.
The platform also holds ISO 27001 certification, which is a standard used to assess security practices.
This places the partnership inside a broader trend where staking providers with stronger compliance frameworks are becoming central to blockchain infrastructure.
User access
Monad allows users to unstake assets in around 5.5 hours. Chorus One’s staking model supports flexible terms, which means both institutional and retail users on Bitget can stake or restake Monad tokens based on their preferences.
The partnership creates a direct path for Bitget users to enter the Monad ecosystem.
Within the first week of the staking programme launch, Chorus One released figures showing that more than $6 million worth of assets had been staked on the network.
The rapid participation signals interest in Monad’s performance-focused design and the integration with a major exchange ecosystem, reflecting a wider demand for accessible staking opportunities worldwide.
Market expansion
Bitget operates in several regions, including the Asia Pacific and African markets.
The platform’s presence in these regions gives the new staking programme a wider reach, especially in places where digital asset demand is growing.
Chorus One has already worked with the Avalanche Foundation to expand validator infrastructure across Africa, which positions the company to contribute to similar regional development for the Monad network.
The companies stated that the partnership aims to support cryptocurrency adoption in emerging markets by providing tools that reduce entry barriers and increase access to blockchain-based services.
With the expansion of new networks such as Monad, staking options are becoming a way for users in developing regions to take part in blockchain activity without needing a complex technical setup or advanced hardware.
Silk Road-tagged wallets sent $3.14 million in Bitcoin across 176 transfers this week.
The transactions are the most significant Silk Road-linked activity in five years.
The wallets sent funds to a new address beginning with bc1qn.
Silk Road-linked cryptocurrency activity has resurfaced, drawing attention to long-quiet Bitcoin wallets connected to the darknet marketplace.
The movement comes less than a year after US President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.
While the pardon focused global attention on Ulbricht’s legal case, blockchain analysts are now tracking renewed activity that marks the highest level of transfers in years.
The latest movement, recorded on Tuesday, is raising fresh questions about dormant coin reserves linked to the marketplace and how much Bitcoin remains undiscovered or untouched across older blockchain addresses.
Silk Road wallets show renewed Bitcoin flows
Silk Road-tagged wallets transferred about $3.14 million worth of Bitcoin BTC $92,626, according to Arkham. The activity involved 176 transactions, making it the most significant movement from these addresses in five years.
Earlier this year, the same wallets carried out only three small test transactions, suggesting that substantial activity had been paused.
The transfers this week were sent to an unknown cryptocurrency wallet with the address prefix bc1qn.
The primary Silk Road-associated wallets still hold about $38.4 million in Bitcoin.
The newly created address holds only the transferred $3.14 million.
Pardon puts focus back on historic Silk Road funds
Interest in the wallets has intensified since January, when Trump issued a full pardon to Ulbricht.
Before the pardon, Ulbricht had been serving a double life sentence without parole for creating and operating Silk Road, which allowed anonymous trading of illicit goods using Bitcoin.
Supporters have contributed about $270,000 in Bitcoin donations since the announcement, based on on-chain data.
Unseized Bitcoin linked to Ulbricht gains attention
Alongside the renewed transfers, discussions have shifted to older cryptocurrency holdings believed to be connected to Ulbricht but never seized by authorities.
The US government previously confiscated at least $3.36 billion in Bitcoin from Silk Road, marking one of the largest recoveries in the history of digital asset enforcement.
Yet blockchain analysts tracking historical movements have identified additional reserves that remain untouched.
Coinbase exchange director Conor Grogan highlighted that 430 BTC, worth about $47 million, has not moved for more than 13 years.
These tokens are held in wallets thought to be linked to Ulbricht.
Dormant Bitcoin wallets remain a focal point
Another Silk Road-tagged wallet likely controlled by Ulbricht contains about $8.3 million in Bitcoin.
This wallet has seen only three small test transactions over the past 10 months and has otherwise remained inactive for 14 years, according to Arkham.
The transfers observed this week have therefore shifted attention back to dormant Bitcoin reserves that could hold substantial amounts.
Experts monitoring historical blockchain activity note that movements involving older darknet-linked wallets often prompt speculation about ownership, recovery efforts, or changes in operational control.
The recent activity does not clarify why these wallets began moving again or who controls the receiving address.
However, the timing, extended periods of inactivity, and historical significance of the addresses have made the transfers notable within the crypto community.
As blockchain analysis tools improve and more historical data becomes searchable, renewed activity from legacy darknet sources continues to shape conversations about unseized assets and the long-term movement patterns of early Bitcoin holdings.
The tokenized money-market sector has grown to $9 billion in assets over the past year.
JPMorgan Chase is preparing to deepen its push into blockchain-based finance through a tokenized money-market fund on Ethereum, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Monday.
The bank has not formally announced the product, but the report suggests JPMorgan is moving closer to offering onchain versions of traditional cash-management tools as institutional interest in tokenization grows.
The reported initiative comes as large investors look for ways to deploy idle cash more efficiently while maintaining regulatory compliance.
With about $4 trillion in assets under management, JPMorgan’s reported plans highlight how tokenization is evolving from experimental pilots into investment products associated with major global balance sheets.
The proposed fund would enter a fast-growing segment of digital finance where money-market products are increasingly viewed as a bridge between traditional markets and blockchain infrastructure.
Tokenized money-market fund rollout
The fund, known as My OnChain Net Yield Fund, or MONY, has been seeded with $100 million from JPMorgan’s asset management division, the Wall Street Journal stated.
The product is expected to open to external, qualified investors this week, although no official confirmation has been issued by the bank.
The minimum investment is set at $1 million, keeping the fund focused on institutional participation rather than retail investors.
MONY is designed to operate in line with conventional money-market funds, holding short-term debt instruments and paying interest on a daily basis.
Investors would be able to redeem their shares either in cash or through Circle’s USDC stablecoin, reflecting the growing use of regulated stablecoins in institutional settlement and liquidity management.
Why Ethereum and tokenization matter
JPMorgan has built the reported fund on Kinexys Digital Assets, its in-house tokenization platform, with Ethereum selected as the underlying blockchain, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tokenized funds record ownership onchain, allowing faster settlement, real-time visibility, and continuous trading beyond standard market hours.
These features are attracting attention from asset managers, trading firms, and treasury desks seeking operational efficiency while continuing to rely on low-risk instruments.
Tokenized money-market funds are also increasingly used within decentralised finance ecosystems as reserve assets and as collateral for trading and asset management.
Competition among financial giants
JPMorgan’s reported plans place it alongside other large financial institutions that have already launched tokenized money-market products.
Franklin Templeton introduced its BENJI fund in 2021, becoming one of the earliest traditional asset managers to adopt blockchain-based fund infrastructure.
BlackRock followed in 2024 with its BUIDL fund, developed with tokenization specialist Securitize, which has since attracted about $2 billion in assets, according to data from RWA.xyz.
The integration will support automated payments and onchain SGD-USD exchange.
XSGD and XUSD have processed more than $18 billion in onchain transactions.
StraitsX operates under MAS regulation and is exploring payments with Grab.
Singapore-based stablecoin issuer StraitsX plans to extend its Singapore dollar-backed XSGD and US dollar-backed XUSD to the Solana blockchain by early 2026.
The move reflects a broader push to place regulated stablecoins at the centre of high-speed blockchain settlement, particularly for payments, digital commerce, and emerging AI-driven use cases.
By tapping into Solana’s low-cost and high-throughput infrastructure, StraitsX aims to make SGD- and USD-denominated transactions more efficient across decentralised finance, institutional flows, and everyday payments.
The expansion also positions the company to meet rising demand for programmable money within interoperable, software-native environments.
Solana integration plans
The rollout was announced in collaboration with the Solana Foundation and detailed in a Tuesday blog post.
Once live, users will be able to settle transactions using XSGD and XUSD directly on Solana, taking advantage of faster settlement times and lower transaction fees.
StraitsX said the integration brings multiple financial functions together on a single blockchain, spanning centralised exchange support, decentralised liquidity pools, lending markets, and consumer payments.
The company views Solana as a suitable base layer to support complex payment flows that require speed and scalability without sacrificing reliability.
Demand from AI and commerce
StraitsX said the expansion is designed to support increasing usage from digital commerce platforms and AI-native applications.
Solana has seen growing adoption for x402-based payments, an interoperability standard that enables automated transactions between software agents.
Both XSGD and XUSD already support the x402 standard natively, and this capability will extend to Solana.
As a result, developers and institutions will be able to deploy automated payment use cases, including onchain foreign exchange between SGD and USD, automated market maker liquidity provisioning, lending protocols, and institutional-grade settlement processes.
Onchain volume and token data
XSGD is already live across multiple blockchains, including Ether, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Zilliqa, Hedera, and the XRP Ledger.
XUSD is currently available on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.
XSGD has a market capitalisation of $13 million with a circulating supply of 16.7 million tokens, while XUSD has a market capitalisation of $52 million.
Combined, the two stablecoins have processed more than $18 billion in onchain transaction volume, highlighting their growing role in cross-chain payments and settlement activity.
Regulation and Grab partnership
StraitsX operates as a licensed Major Payment Institution under the Monetary Authority of Singapore stablecoin framework.
Both XSGD and XUSD have been acknowledged by the MAS as compliant with the upcoming stablecoin regulatory framework, according to their white papers.
Separately, the company has moved to explore consumer-facing applications.
Last month, Grab signed an exploratory memorandum of understanding with StraitsX to develop a Web3-enabled settlement layer for Southeast Asia.
Subject to regulatory approval, the initiative would allow Grab users to hold and spend XSGD and XUSD directly within the app, integrating digital wallets, programmable payments, and stablecoin clearing into daily transactions.
Vanguard, the second-largest asset manager in the world, is set to allow its clients to start trading crypto exchange-traded funds and mutual funds on its platform starting Tuesday, reversing its previous stance on digital asset ETFs.
Spurred by persistent retail and institutional demand, Vanguard will permit third-party access to crypto ETFs and mutual funds similar to how the firm treats gold, a Vanguard spokesperson confirmed to Cointelegraph in a statement.
Bloomberg reported that only ETFs that meet regulatory standards will be included, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL)-related ETFs.
The investment manager told Cointelegraph it has ruled out memecoins as well as creating its own crypto ETFs and mutual funds.
“We serve millions of investors who have diverse needs and risk profiles, and we aim to provide a brokerage trading platform that gives our brokerage clients the ability to invest in products they choose,” the Vanguard spokesperson said.
Vanguard is second only to BlackRock as an asset manager, with over $11 trillion in global assets under management as of January, according to the company’s latest report.
Vanguard had ruled out crypto ETFs due to volatility concerns
Vanguard was previously against offering crypto ETFs on its platform, citing volatility and the speculative nature of the assets.
Its former CEO, Tim Buckley, was also strongly opposed, saying in a May 2024 video that the company doesn’t “believe it belongs, like a Bitcoin ETF belongs in a long-term portfolio of someone saving for their retirement. It’s a speculative asset.”
Buckley announced he was stepping down as CEO in February 2024 and retired at the end of that year.
The company had been against offering crypto ETFs on its platform due to concerns about volatility. Source: Vanguard
Some X users speculate that Vanguard’s policy shift could open the floodgates to new investors and spike crypto prices. Crypto analyst and investor Nilesh Rohilla said he would be surprised if Bitcoin doesn’t jump “5% in this news in the next 24 hrs.”
X user BankXRP said it “is another massive signal that traditional finance is fully stepping into digital assets. The wall of money is lining up.”
Meanwhile, Vivek Sen, the founder of Bitcoin public relations firm Bitgrow Lab, also predicted there are “trillions incoming.”
Cardano is entering a very important phase in its development, as its founding institutions are attempting to deliver the core infrastructure that every major blockchain already treats as standard.
On Nov. 27, a new proposal sought community approval to allocate 70 million ADA tokens (worth about $30 million) to onboard tier-one stablecoins, custody providers, cross-chain bridges, pricing oracles, and institutional analytics.
The effort is backed jointly by Input Output, EMURGO, the Cardano Foundation, Intersect, and the Midnight Foundation, an unusually coordinated coalition for a network often criticized for slow alignment and decentralized drift.
The central message behind this collaboration is unmistakable: Cardano wants to enter 2026 with the economic plumbing it has lacked for years.
Why the Cardano pivot matters
The integrations push arrives at a moment when Cardano’s economic base is still relatively shallow.
For context, DefiLlama data shows that the Charles Hoskinson-led network has about $248 million in TVL and roughly $40 million in stablecoins, as well as a limited pool for lending, liquidity provision, and RWA issuance compared with ecosystems that treat these assets as foundational utilities.
In comparison, Ethereum alone carries more than $170 billion in stablecoins, reflecting the scale gap Cardano is trying to close.
So, without deep stablecoin reserves, liquidity pathways, or institutional tooling, Cardano would continue to struggle to generate the network effects that make a blockchain economically relevant.
While the disruption was resolved quickly, it intensified scrutiny on Cardano’s operational maturity, particularly its limited real-time analytics, monitoring, and other safeguards expected in institutional-grade environments.
The budget set up for the integration aims to systematize the onboarding of top-tier vendors, including milestones, audits, service-level agreements, and transparent delivery tracking.
So, instead of one-off deals or ad hoc negotiations, supporters say the fund would create a formal, accountable pipeline for onboarding the infrastructure Cardano has historically lacked. Tim Harrison, a director at Input Outputs, said:
“This is the kind of unity and focus that will accelerate growth across DeFi, DePIN and RWA.”
Why these integrations might not be sufficient for Cardano
The integrations push comes after Hoskinson had spoken about what truly limits Cardano’s DeFi growth.
Last month, the Cardano founder acknowledged the network’s DeFi gap but pushed back against the notion that landing USDC, USDT, or other fiat-backed stablecoins would “magically” transform adoption.
According to him:
“No one’s ever made the argument and explained how the existence of one of these larger stablecoins is magically going to make Cardano’s entire DeFi problem go away, make the price go up, massively improve our MAUs, our TVL, and all these other things.”
Instead, he points to a behavioral bottleneck by noting that millions of ADA holders participate in staking and governance, but few make the leap into DeFi. He also added that the network faces coordination and accountability challenges.
Hoskinson argued that this creates a classic chicken-and-egg problem, in which the network’s current low liquidity discourages integrations, and the lack of integrations keeps liquidity low.
Considering this, Hoskinson’s roadmap ties the network DeFi growth to Bitcoin interoperability and the Midnight privacy network. He believes these integrations could channel “billions” in volume into Cardano-native stablecoins and lending protocols if executed well.
That framing matters for the new budget.
If the challenge Cardano is facing is organizational, stemming from fragmented efforts, slow vendor onboarding, and the absence of a structured pathway for stablecoins and custody providers, then a community-mandated integrations program could provide the governance mechanism the ecosystem lacks.
However, even with a coordinated onboarding framework, the budget will only shift outcomes if it ultimately mobilizes passive ADA holders into active liquidity and attracts issuers with market makers willing to support real volume.
The 2026 stress test
Next year will test whether Cardano’s governance and new vendor pipeline can translate its integrations budget into measurable economic growth.
So, if even one major fiat-backed stablecoin arrives with market-maker depth, Cardano’s $40 million stablecoin base could plausibly expand into the low-hundreds-of-millions, a range consistent with early adoption phases on other L1s.
Moreover, Cardano’s $248 million DeFi TVL could reach $500 million if the network secures credible custody and analytics platforms. Notably, this is a level at which lending, RWAs, and liquidity routing begin to compound rather than stall.
Without them, liquidity will continue to circulate elsewhere. With them, Cardano enters 2026 with the minimum infrastructure required to compete for regulated DeFi pilots, RWA issuance, and BTC–ADA liquidity flows tied to its Bitcoin interoperability roadmap.
Stablecoin concerns, regulatory pressure, and reduced risk appetite among traders weighed more on Bitcoin than Japan’s bond-market moves.
Reduced confidence in global growth and stress on digital asset reserve companies amplified BTC selling and subsequent stop losses.
Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped sharply on Sunday after failing to overcome $92,000. The slide to $84,000 on Monday wiped out $388 million in bullish leveraged positions, leaving analysts searching for a clear explanation. A mix of factors contributed to the sell-off and pushed traders toward a more cautious stance.
Some analysts quickly tied Bitcoin’s drop to turbulence in the Japanese bond market where yields on 20-year notes climbed to their highest level in 25 years.
Japan 20-year bonds yield (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD (right). Source: TradingView / Cointelegraph
Higher yields generally signal that investors are less willing to buy those bonds at current prices, whether due to concerns about inflation or rising government debt. Although the moves occurred on the same day, drawing a direct link is challenging, especially since the 30-day correlation has fluctuated between positive and negative throughout the year.
Japan’s market stress may also reflect deteriorating global economic expectations. Trader Jim Chanos, famous for predicting the fall of Enron during the dot-com bubble in 1999, highlighted in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance the growing risks tied to GPU-backed debt issued by cloud AI companies.
AI datacenter funding, USD billion. Source: Bofa Global Research
According to Chanos, “a lot of the AI companies […] are just loss-making enterprises right now,” and if this does not change, “there is going to be debt defaults.” The financing trend that uses GPUs as collateral was pioneered by CoreWeave (CRWV US), according to Yahoo Finance, and has been accompanied by Nvidia’s (NVDA US) large investments in the cloud sector.
Regulatory uncertainty adds to crypto market unease
Another source of unease came from the regulatory environment, even if not directly tied to Bitcoin. When traders sense that governments are tightening their stance on cryptocurrencies, many investors become less willing to increase exposure. So, even without direct consequences for Bitcoin itself, overall sentiment can turn negative.
Reuters reported on Saturday that China’s central bank reaffirmed its strict approach toward digital assets, pledging to intensify its crackdown on illegal activity. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) reportedly said that stablecoins “were being used for illegal activities including money laundering, fraud, and unauthorized cross-border fund transfers.”
The 23% Bitcoin price decline over the past 30 days has disrupted how strategic digital-asset reserve companies operate. Until recently, they had strong incentives to issue stock at market prices and use the proceeds to buy Bitcoin, but that approach breaks down once a company trades below its net asset value.
Strategy (MSTR US) CEO Phong Le said in an interview that the company would only consider selling its Bitcoin if mNAV remains depressed and every other funding option has been exhausted. Although fears spread over the weekend, Strategy announced on Monday that it successfully raised $1.44 billion in cash to support dividend payments and service its debt obligations.
Tether (USDT/CNY) vs. US dollar/CNY. Source: OKXt
In parallel, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Tether (USDT) stablecoin reserves to the weakest level possible on Wednesday. USDT soon began trading at a 0.4% discount relative to the official USD/CNY rate in China, signaling moderate selling pressure.
Analysts cited “persistent gaps in disclosure” and “limited information on the creditworthiness of its custodians, counterparties, or bank account providers.” Whether or not the criticism is fully justified, given that Tether does not operate like a traditional bank, the move still hurts cryptocurrency traders’ risk appetite.
Bitcoin’s crash to $84,000 on Monday reflects broader concerns around the stablecoin sector and fading confidence in global economic prospects, rather than any specific issue in Japan’s government bond market.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Top SOL treasury company Forward Industries has appointed Ryan Navi as chief investment officer to oversee the execution of the company’s Solana-focused treasury strategy.
According to Monday’s announcement, Navi will handle sourcing and structuring capital markets opportunities and direct how Forward Industries uses its staking and validator infrastructure to support the accumulation of (SOL), Solana’s native token.
Navi joins Forward Industries after leading digital-asset investments at ParaFi Capital and previously serving as a principal at investment company KKR, where he focused on liquid and distressed credit strategies. He began his career in investment banking at Citi.
Forward Industries, which pivoted from a global design company serving medical and technology companies to launch its treasury strategy in September, is among the companies betting on SOL tokens as part of a crypto treasury strategy.
Top 10 Solana treasury companies. Source: CoinGecko
According to CoinGecko data, Forward currently holds 6,910,568 SOL valued at about $863.5 million, which amounts to slightly more than 1% of the total SOL in circulation.
In October, the company launched its first institutional-grade validator node on the Solana blockchain, expanding its presence in the ecosystem.
Forward authorized in November a $1 billion share repurchase program, allowing the company to buy back shares through open-market purchases, block trades or privately negotiated transactions.
Several Solana-focused treasury companies debuted this year, and some saw their share prices jump sharply following their launch announcements.
In August, shares of Sharps Technology jumped over 96% after the company announced its pivot from a medical device maker to focus on accumulating Solana’s native token.
However, as the price of SOL has fallen by over 30% the past month and is currently trading around $125 per token, many of these companies’ stock prices have reflected the drop.
Solana Co. (HSDT), the second-largest SOL-focused digital asset treasury, declined by nearly 37% over the past 30 days, while shares of DeFi Development Corporation (DFDV) plunged 40% over the same period.
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin is rapidly expanding on Ethereum rather than the company’s native XRP Ledger (XRPL).
According to CryptoSlate data, RLUSD’s total circulating supply has surged to $1.26 billion within 12 months of its launch. Of this, roughly $1.03 billion, or 82% of the total supply, resides on Ethereum, while the $235 million balance is on XRPL.
Graph showing Ripple RLUSD supply on Ethereum and XRPL from November 2024 to November 2025 (Source: DeFiLlama)
The primary driver of this disparity is the maturity of the underlying financial stack.
On Ethereum, RLUSD entered an environment where dollar liquidity is already entrenched. Data from DeFiLlama confirms that Ethereum continues to lead all chains in total value locked (TVL) and stablecoin supply, providing a turnkey ecosystem for new assets.
So, any new stablecoin that can plug into major DeFi protocols like Aave, Curve, and Uniswap immediately benefits from existing routing engines, collateral frameworks, and risk models.
RLUSD’s presence on Aave and Curve confirms this. The USDC/RLUSD pool on Curve now holds approximately $74 million in liquidity, ranking it among the larger stablecoin pools on the platform.
For institutional treasuries, market makers, and arbitrage desks, this depth is non-negotiable. It ensures low-slippage execution for trades in the tens of millions, facilitating basis trades and yield-farming strategies that drive modern crypto capital markets.
On the other hand, the XRPL is still in the nascent stages of building a DeFi foundation. Its protocol-level automated market maker (AMM) went live only in 2024. So all RLUSD-related pools on the ledger, such as the USD/RLUSD pair created in January 2025, still suffer from shallow depth and limited follow-through.
Moreover, the XRPL AMM design has not yet attracted the liquidity provider density seen in EVM ecosystems.
Critics might argue that RLUSD’s Ethereum supply is merely “vanity metrics,” large sums minted but sitting idle.
However, a deeper analysis of on-chain transfer data refutes this. RLUSD is showing a genuine product-market fit with Ethereum, characterized by high velocity and recurring usage.
According to Token Terminal, weekly RLUSD transfer volume on Ethereum now averages approximately $1.0 billion, a dramatic increase from the $66 million average seen at the start of the year.
Chart showing RLUSD’s trading volume in 2025 (Source: Token Terminal)
The data shows an apparent structural shift of a steady upward trend through the first half of 2025, followed by a “re-basing” to a significantly higher floor in the second half.
Crucially, recent weeks show activity clustering around this elevated level rather than spiking and reverting. In market structure terms, a rising baseline typically signals a transition from a distribution phase to a utility phase.
This implies that the token is being used in ongoing, recurring flows, such as institutional settlement and commercial payments, rather than isolated speculative events.
Transfer counts support this thesis. Weekly transactions on Ethereum now average 7,000, up from 240 in January.
The fact that transfer counts are rising in parallel with volume is a critical health indicator. If volume were rising while counts remained flat, it would suggest a market dominated by a few whales moving massive sums. Instead, the concurrent rise points to broader participation.
Furthermore, the holder data suggest a healthy dispersion of risk. According to data from Etherscan, Ripple’s RLUSD has attracted roughly 6,400 on-chain holders on Ethereum as of late November 2025, up from just 750 at the start of the year.
Graph showing the number of RLUSD holders on Ethereum in 2025 (Source: Token Terminal)
While the supply growth has been driven by “chunky” batch issuances rather than drip minting, the holder count has followed a smooth upward curve.
The friction between RLUSD and XRPL
The structural divergence between the two networks explains why the “permissionless” growth loop has favored Ethereum.
On Ethereum, RLUSD functions as a standard ERC-20 token. Wallets, custodians, accounting middleware, and DeFi aggregators are already optimized for this standard.
Once a protocol like Curve “wires in” a token, it becomes part of the standard dollar-pair universe alongside USDC and USDT, accessible to any address without prior authorization.
On the other hand, XRPL’s design choices, while technically robust, impose significantly higher friction on the user.
To hold RLUSD on the native ledger, users generally must maintain an XRP balance to satisfy reserve requirements and configure a specific trustline to the issuer. If the issuer enables the `RequireAuth` setting, which is a feature designed for strict compliance and granular control, accounts must be explicitly allow-listed before they can receive tokens.
So, while Ripple notes that these features appeal to banks that require explicit control, they act as a brake on organic adoption.
Essentially, the compliance tools that make XRPL attractive to regulated entities are the same features that slow down wallet-to-wallet distribution.
In a market where capital seeks the path of least resistance, the operational burden of trustlines renders XRPL less competitive for the high-frequency, automated flows that define DeFi.
RLUSD’s path to growth
Despite the ledger imbalance, the overall trajectory of RLUSD puts Ripple within striking distance of a major market tier.
Token Terminal has stated that Ripple would cement itself as the third-largest stablecoin issuer globally, behind only the incumbents Tether and Circle, if RLLUSD’s market cap were to grow 10x from current levels.
Considering this, RLUSD’s growth depends heavily on whether Ripple can leverage its Ethereum success to eventually jumpstart its native chain.
A base-case projection for the next six months sees RLUSD’s Ethereum supply climb from roughly $1.0 billion to a range of $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion. This assumes that Curve liquidity remains in the $60 million to $100 million band and that CEX and OTC demand continues to grow.
Under this path, XRPL would likely see its pools accumulate more liquidity over time but remain a small fraction of the aggregate issuance.
Meanwhile, a more aggressive “catch-up” scenario for XRPL would require deliberate market intervention. If Ripple or its partners commit to multi-month AMM reward programs and successfully mask trustline configurations behind single-click wallet interfaces, the native ledger could begin to erode Ethereum’s lead.
With these levers, XRPL liquidity could plausibly reach $500 million and claim up to 25% of the total supply.
However, the downside risk for the native ledger is real. If Ethereum cements its lead and the Curve USDC/RLUSD pool expands beyond $150 million, the network effects may become insurmountable. In that scenario, Ethereum could retain 80% to 90% of the supply indefinitely.
For now, Ripple finds itself in a paradoxical position: to succeed in its ambition to become a top-tier stablecoin issuer, it must rely on the infrastructure of its biggest rival.
