XRP Open Interest Surges Past $1 Billion as Ripple Advances RLUSD Stablecoin Testing

Open interest in XRP has surged past $1 billion. This increase comes amid growing excitement for Ripple's upcoming RLUSD stablecoin. Right now, it's in private beta testing on both the XRP Ledger and the Ethereum blockchain.

Over the weekend, bets on XRP futures climbed to over $1 billion. That’s a level we haven’t seen since March and June of last year.

Recently, open interest in XRP tokens has jumped significantly. This boost is fueled by developments related to RLUSD, which is being created by Ripple Labs. There’s been notable activity, including the minting of large amounts of RLUSD. This suggests that we might be nearing the end of the testing phase or moving into a more active development stage.

This buzz has sparked interest on platforms like X. Users are closely monitoring the minting activities.

Now, let’s break down open interest. Open Interest (OI) refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts that haven’t been settled for a specific asset. When OI increases alongside rising prices, it usually means new money is entering the market. However, if prices rise but OI falls, it may indicate that the rally is driven by short covering instead of new investments. This could signal a weaker trend.

On Monday, Ripple confirmed that RLUSD remains in private beta on the XRP Ledger and the Ethereum blockchain. They also issued a warning on X about scams using the stablecoin as bait. Ripple plans to use RLUSD for its cross-border payments solution. This will enhance liquidity, facilitate faster and cheaper transactions, and may even integrate with various decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols across multiple blockchains.

The betting on XRP futures grew to over $1 billion over the weekend, matching levels we haven't seen since March and June last year. According to data from Coinglass, exchanges like Binance and Bybit account for nearly half of these bets. Additionally, spot trading volumes more than doubled in the past week, reaching as high as $2.5 billion on Sunday.

In the past week, XRP's price increased by 7.4%. This outperformed a stagnant Bitcoin and a 2.7% rise in the broader cryptocurrency market, as tracked by the CoinDesk 20 index.