Ripple’s RLUSD just got Binance’s strongest growth lever, can that catapult it into a top 3 asset?

Binance has listed Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, opening spot trading pairs like RLUSD/USDT and RLUSD/U with zero fees until further notice. Industry experts view this as a major growth lever, capable of fundamentally altering market hierarchy by changing how value is routed, similar to how USDC's market share surged after a similar Binance move in 2023.

For RLUSD to reach the top three, two sequential 'flywheels' must engage: routing adoption, driven by market makers seeking tighter spreads due to zero fees, and balance-sheet adoption, where the asset is actually held in DeFi, as collateral, or in treasury allocations. Binance is supporting this by adding portfolio margin eligibility and planning inclusion in Binance Earn.

Despite the strategic setup, RLUSD, currently around $1.4 billion, faces a substantial gap to displace the top three, requiring roughly $5.1 billion in new circulation. However, potential macro tailwinds, including projections for the stablecoin market to reach trillions, could aid its ascent. Ripple's long-term potential hinges less on retail hype and more on its institutional plumbing—its regulatory posture (NY DFS and conditional OCC charters) and its vertically integrated enterprise stack (Hidden Road, Palisade, GTreasury, Rail) which positions RLUSD for use in multi-asset margin and financing workflows. The ultimate risk is that RLUSD becomes a high-volume, low-holding 'cheap rail' without achieving durable adoption.

(Source：CryptoSlate)