Ripple has expanded its U.S. dollar stablecoin RLUSD to major Ethereum Layer 2 networks, marking a significant step in its multichain strategy. The rollout uses Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers standard to allow RLUSD to operate natively across multiple blockchains without relying on wrapped assets. The company says the move aims to increase adoption in decentralized finance and institutional use cases.
RLUSD will initially be tested on several Layer 2 networks, including Optimism, Base, Ink and Unichain. These networks are designed to process transactions faster and at lower cost than Ethereum mainnet, making them attractive venues for stablecoin activity. Ripple said expanding to Layer 2s responds directly to where liquidity and user demand are increasingly concentrated.
The technical backbone of the expansion is Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers standard. Unlike traditional bridging methods that create wrapped versions of tokens, NTT allows RLUSD to be issued and managed as a native asset on each supported chain. Ripple argues this approach reduces operational risk, avoids liquidity fragmentation, and simplifies movement of the stablecoin across ecosystems.
Multichain push and regulatory positioning
Ripple positions RLUSD as a regulated stablecoin built for both crypto-native and institutional users. The token is issued under a New York Department of Financial Services trust company framework, giving it a compliance profile closer to traditional financial products than many offshore-issued stablecoins. Ripple has also disclosed that it is pursuing additional regulatory approvals in the United States.
The expansion comes as competition intensifies in the stablecoin market. Dollar-pegged tokens such as USDT and USDC continue to dominate, but regulators in Europe and the United States are placing greater scrutiny on reserve transparency, governance, and cross-chain risk. Ripple’s emphasis on native issuance and regulated status appears designed to address those concerns.
For the broader crypto ecosystem, RLUSD’s move highlights a growing shift toward Layer 2 networks as core infrastructure rather than secondary environments. Stablecoins are increasingly expected to move seamlessly across chains, particularly as DeFi activity fragments across multiple execution layers. Interoperability standards like Wormhole’s NTT are emerging as a key part of that transition.
From a European perspective, the development also adds context to ongoing policy debates around private digital money. As the European Central Bank advances work on a digital euro, officials have repeatedly warned about the dominance of dollar-backed stablecoins in global crypto markets. Ripple’s expansion underscores how quickly private issuers can scale across networks compared with public-sector projects that remain bound by legislative and governance timelines.
Ripple said further network integrations could follow as testing progresses. The company did not provide a full rollout timeline but signalled that multichain availability will remain central to RLUSD’s strategy going forward.