Ripple’s recent emphasis on RLUSD’s use case in its $1.25 billion acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road has stirred backlash within the XRP community. The company confirmed that RLUSD, not XRP, will be used as the primary collateral asset on Hidden Road’s platform, prompting concerns over XRP’s declining role.
Hidden Road, a principal institutional broker clearing over $3 trillion annually, will use RLUSD for collateral across its global trading infrastructure. This step is the first real-world integration of a stablecoin that supports cross-margining between traditional and digital assets.
Using this format, institutional clients may optimize capital better among forex, derivatives, and crypto trades.
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At the same time, Ripple also announced that Hidden Road’s post-trade activities will be moved to the XRP Ledger. In this system, XRP will only be used for transaction fees. Such little use of XRP has rekindled dissatisfaction among those who have held the asset for a long time, believing that it is being overlooked.
Ripple first announced the Hidden Road takeover in April, when concerns had already emerged about XRP’s limited role in the deal. The renewed emphasis on the central role of RLUSD has fueled that feeling further, as the community openly doubts whether Ripple is moving away from its established digital asset.
XRP Community Questions Ripple’s Priorities
Social media reactions have grown louder in recent days. Prominent XRP advocate Elena Schoen suggested that XRP’s role is now primarily restricted to ledger settlements, while RLUSD is positioned as Ripple’s preferred asset for real-world applications.
Her remarks reflected a broader community sentiment that XRP is losing relevance in the evolving Ripple ecosystem.
Ripple executives, however, continue to defend their strategy. CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that RLUSD and XRP have distinct roles, noting that XRP provides bridge liquidity, while RLUSD is a stable on-chain representation of fiat. CTO David Schwartz agreed, stating that the stablecoin complements, rather than replaces, the functionality of XRP.
RLUSD was introduced in December 2024 and is completely backed by the U.S. dollar. It is based on the XRP Ledger and is built to provide regulatory compliance, low volatility, and quick settlement, so it is suitable for institutional finance, tokenized assets, and cross-border payments.
Ripple’s decision to favor RLUSD over XRP in the Hidden Road deal has further exacerbated the debate on XRP’s future in Ripple’s ecosystem. The community remains polarized even as Ripple continues asserting that its assets enhance each other, and RLUSD keeps driving the scene of institutional use cases.
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