XRP’s Protocol Upgrade and RLUSD Minting Record Show Network Strength While Price Waits for Regulatory Catalyst

XRP Ledger activates fixCleanup3.1.3 upgrade with strong validator support; Ripple mints record 200M RLUSD on XRPL, on-chain activity hits 12-month high, yet XRP price remains 61% below its 52-week high.

The XRP Ledger enters a new phase this week with the activation of version 3.1.3, a network upgrade that cleans up technical debt and tightens security — but on-chain data suggests the real story may be playing out in the stablecoin market. Ripple minted a record 200 million RLUSD directly on the XRPL on May 20, burning 100 million RLUSD on Ethereum in the same move, while the token’s price dawdles at $1.37, roughly 61% below its 52-week high of $3.56.

The upgrade, dubbed “fixCleanup3_1_3”, received over 80% validator approval during a two-week consensus period and is scheduled to go live on May 27. It automatically clears expired NFTokenOffer entries to improve data efficiency, introduces invariant checks for “Permissioned Domains” to prevent failed transactions from leaving unauthorized ledger changes, and corrects a loophole that allowed trustline token limits to be bypassed during vault withdrawals. Lending protocol bookkeeping errors in default scenarios are also patched. While these are largely backend fixes, they signal that the network is maturing to serve institutional-grade use cases.

That institutional angle is reinforced by RLUSD’s explosive growth. The stablecoin’s total supply on the XRP Ledger has more than doubled in 60 days to $690 million, pushing its overall market capitalisation to roughly $1.75 billion. That places the XRPL fourth among tokenised real-world asset platforms, behind Ethereum but ahead of most competitors. Ripple has also expanded RLUSD’s reach through listings on Binance and OKX, and plans to extend distribution via the Wormhole protocol to Ethereum layer-2 networks such as Base, Optimism and Unichain. Previously, about 80% of RLUSD circulated on Ethereum; the record minting on the XRPL suggests a strategic pivot toward building liquidity on the native ledger.

On-chain activity corroborates the uptick in network utility. On May 22, the XRP Ledger recorded 48,453 active addresses — the highest figure in two months — while nearly 4,300 new wallets were created in a single day, the fourth-largest daily increase in 2026. Daily transaction volumes recently hit a 12-month high of over 2.7 million successful payments, many facilitated by XRP’s role as a bridge asset in Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity infrastructure. The ledger now hosts tokenised US Treasuries, money market funds and commercial paper, leading some analysts to argue that the network is gradually decoupling from speculative price swings.

Yet the price has not responded. XRP has shed roughly 27% year-to-date, and its 200-day moving average at $1.70 sits 19% above the spot price. After bouncing from an April low of $1.27, the token pushed into the resistance zone between $1.40 and $1.55 before encountering selling pressure. The relative strength index at 59.2 suggests neither extreme overbought nor oversold — typical of a consolidation phase.

Institutional flows, however, offer a counterpoint. Spot XRP exchange-traded funds in the US have posted positive net inflows for twelve consecutive trading days, adding $107.3 million in May alone. Since inception, cumulative ETF inflows stand at $1.4 billion, with total assets under management around $1.15 billion. The pace suggests that long-term players are accumulating despite the price weakness.

The regulatory backdrop may soon tip the scales. On May 19, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Federal Reserve to assess whether crypto firms should gain direct access to the US dollar payment system. The Fed has 120 days to report. Ripple already holds a conditional national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, positioning it to use XRP as a bridge currency for real-time settlement if access is granted. Separately, the CLARITY Act, a bill aimed at providing a clear legal framework for digital assets, passed the Senate committee on May 14.

With the upgrade going live, RLUSD supply accelerating, ETF money trickling in and Washington edging toward clarity, XRP’s infrastructure is arguably stronger than at any point in the past year. Whether the market translates that into a price recovery will likely depend on how quickly regulatory signals become tangible banking access — and whether the technical consolidation gives way to a breakout before the Fed’s 120-day clock runs out.