XRP Surges 26.6% as Ripple Rebalances RLUSD Supply

XRP (XRP), the native token of the Ripple network, extended an unusually sharp rally on Thursday; live spot data monitored by COINOTAG now puts the asset’s 24-hour gain near 26.6%. Earlier market data, captured while Ripple’s latest stablecoin operations were being recorded, showed XRP up 18.8% after climbing from a low near $1.03 to a session high around $1.24. That price surge overlapped with heavy two-way activity in RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-denominated stablecoin, which is managed through mint-and-burn operations rather than an algorithmic stablecoin design. XRPScan data for Aug. 20 logged a 900,000 RLUSD mint on the XRP Ledger, while Ripple Stablecoin Tracker data listed a 20 million RLUSD treasury mint, two separate 10 million RLUSD mints, a 12 million RLUSD issuance and a 32 million RLUSD issuance over the preceding 23 hours. The burn side moved just as quickly: 15.4 million RLUSD was removed at the treasury and 20 million RLUSD was burned on Ethereum within roughly the same window. The earlier data also put XRP’s seven-day gain at 21.2% and its 30-day gain at 16.5%. The combination of a rising XRP price and rapid RLUSD turnover put Ripple’s stablecoin machinery at the center of the session’s on-chain narrative.

The transaction trail points to active inventory management rather than a one-way expansion of RLUSD supply. The newest mint, 900,000 RLUSD, came only after the treasury had already printed 20 million RLUSD and two 10 million batches, while burns of 15.4 million and 20 million RLUSD showed funds moving out of circulation at the same time. The record therefore looks more like continuous two-way circulation than a simple supply build. RLUSD, which Ripple uses for payments and liquidity, can therefore see high turnover without a sustained increase in total supply. The 20 million RLUSD burned on Ethereum, for example, roughly matched the size of the treasury mint that landed three hours earlier, indicating a possible settlement or bridge flow rather than a one-directional issuance. The two-network pattern points to coordination across the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, even though the tracker does not identify the final destination of every burned token. In this reading, Ripple’s actions are consistent with managing the stablecoin’s availability where demand can differ sharply from hour to hour. The trading side of the story remained centered on XRP, which was up 19% when those records were collected and had briefly tested $1.24.

XRP’s move stood out even in a stronger altcoin session, which had begun to firm after bitcoin’s double-digit rally. Data from Santiment Intelligence, flagged by analyst Ali Martinez, shows large holders accumulated more than 300 million XRP since the start of the business week, increasing their combined holdings from about 16.05 billion XRP on Aug. 16 to roughly 16.36 billion at the latest reading. That followed an earlier 72 million-token purchase within 24 hours as the price defended the $1.00 level. After sliding below $1.00 last week for the first time in nearly two years, a reminder of the extended bear market, the rebound briefly carried XRP to $1.30 earlier in the session, its first visit to that level since June 1, before the token pulled back toward $1.22. Large acquisitions of this kind can reduce immediate selling pressure and, by signaling commitment from large wallets, they can also act as a reference for smaller investors who tend to follow whale behavior. The rally also produced fresh price calls: analyst JAVON MARKS described the breakout as the start of the next major run and outlined a macro target of $15 or higher, while Dark Defender said the correction had completed on all five waves across all timeframes. Those projections remain forecasts, not confirmed market events.

The common thread across these three observations is a market repricing of XRP alongside an unusually busy stablecoin supply operation. The primary-source record — XRPScan and Ripple Stablecoin Tracker data — does not explain why Ripple minted and burned tens of millions of RLUSD within the same window, nor does it establish a causal link between those flows and the token’s rally. It does show that treasury activity was large while whale wallets were being built up, a combination that often attracts attention to an altcoin like XRP but does not by itself confirm a sustained trend. The fundamental catalyst for the move remains unconfirmed in the on-chain data.