XRP News Today: Stellar Expert Claims XRP is Hype, Data Shows RLUSD Growth

The rivalry between Stellar and Ripple has intensified with a recent opinion from a prominent figure in the Stellar community. Known as “Stellar Expert,” this individual posted a thread that quickly gained traction, asserting that XLM has evolved significantly while XRP remains mired in hype. The thread highlighted several key points, including Ripple's development of an EVM-compatible sidechain, which Stellar Expert criticized as still being in the planning phase. In contrast, Stellar's smart contract platform, Soroban, is already live and optimized for real utility. The thread also mentioned Ripple's recent addition of USDC on the XRP Ledger, suggesting it was a response to the failure of RLUSD, Ripple's own stablecoin. Stellar Expert praised Stellar’s USDC, noting it has over 1.5 million trustlines and real transactional volume, concluding that XRP is merely selling hype, which inevitably fades.

However, the claim that RLUSD has flopped does not align with the data. RLUSD has seen rapid growth since its launch, with its circulating supply increasing sixfold to over $320 million by June 2025. The trading activity has been robust, with RLUSD processing $3 trillion in cumulative trading volume across centralized exchanges within its first month. In January 2025 alone, it handled $2.84 trillion in volume, placing it among the top-performing stablecoins by activity at that time. These figures indicate strong institutional and retail demand, despite not yet matching the scale of USDC’s adoption on Stellar.

Stellar does have notable advantages, such as its live and well-integrated Soroban platform, which provides developers with a functional smart contract environment. USDC on Stellar has become crucial for cross-border transactions and payments. However, the narrative that Ripple is only selling hype does not reflect the reality on the ground. Ripple's focus on enterprise solutions, tokenization, and real-world financial infrastructure has been deliberate and appealing to big institutions and payment networks. The launch of USDC on XRPL is another step in this direction, offering Ripple users access to a globally recognized stablecoin within the XRP ecosystem.

This thread from Stellar Expert appears to be part of a broader strategy to highlight Stellar’s progress and position it in contrast to Ripple, especially as XRP gains momentum again. With the SEC case cooling down and major announcements around EVM compatibility and stablecoins, XRP is back in the spotlight. Stellar aims to remind the crypto world of its presence and innovation. However, this is not a winner-takes-all scenario. Stellar and Ripple have always taken different paths, with Stellar focusing on open-access tools, community use, and programmable finance, while Ripple aims for institutional adoption, global payment rails, and enterprise-grade liquidity. Both projects can succeed in their own ways.

As the debate on crypto Twitter heats up, the data provides a more balanced perspective. Stellar is evolving, Ripple is delivering, and hype, when it turns into real-world numbers, is not always a bad thing. The competition between Stellar and Ripple is real, but so is their mutual relevance, allowing both projects to thrive in different ways.