USDC Goes Native on XRP Ledger: A Leap Toward Instant Payments

Circle’s USDC stablecoin has officially landed on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), eliminating cumbersome bridges and unlocking near-instant, low-cost transfers directly on the network.

“With USDC live natively on XRPL, institutions and developers gain seamless access to dollar-pegged liquidity on one of the fastest public ledgers,” announced RippleX Dev on X today. x.com

What’s Changed

• No Wrapping, No Waiting
  Before today, moving USDC onto XRPL required locking tokens on Ethereum and minting proxies on XRPL—a process prone to delays and extra fees. Now, Circle’s mint/burn contracts live on the XRPL mainnet, so USDC behaves like any other XRPL-issued token.
• Instant Settlement
  Trades and transfers finalize in 3–5 seconds, at a fraction of the cost on most chains. That speed is crucial for real-time remittances or high-frequency trading.
• Streamlined Developer Experience
  Circle’s APIs and minting portal were updated today to support XRPL endpoints. Developers can now call mintUSDC or redeemUSDC directly in their XRPL-based apps—no extra middleware needed.

Why It Matters

1. Cross-Border Payments
   Companies sending payroll or vendor payouts can move dollars on-chain without juggling bridges—cutting settlement times from hours or days to mere seconds.
2. Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
   Market makers can now seed XRPL DEXs (AMMs, order books) with native USDC, boosting liquidity for trading pairs without bridging overhead.
3. Wallet & Custody Integration
   Custodians and wallets that already support XRPL can plug in USDC overnight—offering users a single-rail experience for both XRP and dollar-pegged transfers.

XRPL at a Glance

Originally launched in 2012 by Ripple Labs’ founders, the XRPL is a C++-based public ledger renowned for its sub-5-second finality and minimal transaction fees en.wikipedia.org. With token support baked in from day one, XRPL has grown into a multi-asset platform—now including USDC, fiat-backed tokens, and even loyalty points.

What’s Next

• Ecosystem Onboarding
  Look for major wallets and custodians—like GateHub, XUMM and Bitrue—to roll out one-click USDC support in the coming week.
• Enterprise Pilot Programs
  Several remittance firms have already signed up for closed-beta testing, aiming to replace legacy rails with XRPL’s instant-settle model.
• Expanded Stablecoin Suite
  Circle hints at bringing Euro-pegged USDC.e to XRPL next, further cementing the ledger’s role as a multi-currency hub.

By marrying USDC’s dollar stability with the XRP Ledger’s speed, today’s launch marks a major stride toward a truly borderless, real-time payments future.

Written by Press News Payments Desk
Sources:

• RippleX Dev announcement on X (Twitter) x.com
• XRP Ledger overview, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice.