Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has reaffirmed XRP as the company’s strategic North Star, saying the expansion of its RLUSD stablecoin is intended to increase liquidity, utility and activity across the XRP ecosystem rather than displace the token. About half of RLUSD has been issued on the XRP Ledger, while Ripple is integrating businesses acquired for $2.5 billion in 2025 and developing treasury and prime-brokerage services that could move more traditional financial activity onchain. Garlinghouse said the asset used in a payment will depend on the corridor and currency pair, with RLUSD suited to dollar-denominated settlements because it is backed one-to-one by cash deposits, U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents, while XRP remains market-priced. The comments come amid criticism from XRP commentator Fiduciary Ledger 17 that Ripple’s expansion into stablecoins and institutional finance has not generated stronger XRP demand or price performance. XRP is trading 66% below its all-time high in July last year, despite Ripple partnerships with Coinbase, Robinhood, BNY, Standard Chartered and other institutions. Garlinghouse has said Ripple wants initiatives that benefit XRP, while acknowledging that fiat or RLUSD may be more suitable for some transactions. He estimated that about 20% of prime-brokerage activity was already digital and said Ripple wanted to increase that share. Anodos Finance has separately said it has held XRP in its treasury and paid its team with the token since 2023.