Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD has been added to Horizon, the new institutional lending platform from Aave Labs. Built on Aave V3, Horizon lets institutions borrow stablecoins against tokenized products, linking decentralized finance with traditional markets.
At launch, Horizon includes RLUSD, Circle’s USDC, and Aave’s GHO. It also allows tokenized U.S. Treasuries, corporate bonds, and money market funds to be used as collateral through partnerships with Superstate and Securitize.
Ripple called RLUSD a crucial piece of Aave’s Horizon platform, allowing tokenized products to be used as collateral and flow more efficiently across markets.
Reece Merrick, Ripple’s managing director for the Middle East and Africa, added:
“It’s great to see RLUSD play a big role in Horizon, which allows tokenized products to be used as collateral in order to make flow more efficient across markets.”
When Aave first enabled RLUSD supply and borrowing in April, the platform drew $76 million in one day. Ripple has continued expanding issuance, minting more than 21 million RLUSD in recent weeks. Market value for the token has now reached about $687 million.
Ripple Positions RLUSD for Expansion
Ripple sees stablecoins as a sector moving toward a trillion-dollar market. RLUSD was listed for U.S. spot trading on Gemini earlier this month, and the Gemini Credit Card XRP Edition now supports it.
The company also announced plans with Japan’s SBI VC Trade to launch RLUSD in that market in early 2026. SBI holds licenses that allow it to process stablecoin transactions under Japan’s regulatory framework, including approval as the first Electronic Payment Instruments Exchange Service Provider in the country.
Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, said in July that demand for stable assets was “exploding.” Ripple has framed RLUSD as a tool to bring efficiency to cross-market transactions.
Schwartz Pushes Back on XRP Fork Debate
While RLUSD has gained traction, questions around XRP Ledger governance resurfaced this week. Ripple CTO David Schwartz responded directly, explaining how forks work and whether one could apply to XRP.
“No blockchain is immune to rule changes,” he said.
In theory, a public chain can adopt restrictions if participants agree, while those who disagree can fork and run their own version. Schwartz argued this is what separates open networks from centralized platforms.
On whether forks are healthy, he said the theory is different from reality. In practice, “The market seems to want to pick the better side,” with capital and activity consolidating on one chain, leaving the other with little adoption.
In addition, the fork debate followed XRP’s surge in value. The asset’s market capitalization briefly topped $180.35 billion, passing BlackRock’s $177.79 billion. The move renewed discussion about validator powers, including whether a supermajority could enforce sanctions or blacklists.
Schwartz’s comments served as both explanation and caution: forks are technically possible but rarely successful. For XRP, stability depends less on splitting the chain and more on keeping validator consensus intact.
