With Stablecoin Competition Closing in, Is XRP (Ripple) Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Circle, Google Cloud, and Stripe are all planning to launch stablecoin blockchains soon.

• That could divert some of the capital that would otherwise flow to XRP's chain.

• It could also mean that XRP is choosing to compete in the right place.

• 10 stocks we like better than XRP ›

A trio of financial and technological heavyweights are lining up to launch purpose-built blockchains for institutional money and stablecoins -- the exact lane where Ripple has been positioning XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) for years now. Circle Internet Group's (NYSE: CRCL) Arc, Stripe's Tempo, and Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL) are each aiming at the same set of problems from different angles, with the potential to redirect very large flows of capital away from the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

So is the investment thesis for XRP intact, or is it about to be degraded, potentially severely? Let's examine what these new contenders are planning and figure it out.

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Image source: Getty Images.

The newcomers want the same pie

Circle, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin, USDC, recently announced that it's going to launch Arc, a Layer-1 (L1) chain where fees are paid in USDC to deliver predictable, dollar‑denominated costs for financial use cases. Arc targets transaction and payment settlement, programmable money via smart contracts, and enterprise‑grade compliance features. Importantly, because USDC is so widely distributed, Circle's brand is already well-established in the stablecoin market, which will be an asset when it comes to attracting financial institutions and other capital holders.

Similarly, the payment processing company Stripe is working to launch Tempo, a payments‑first L1 chain described as high‑throughput, compatible with the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM), and built for stablecoin payments and remittances. The network's partners already include some very big names, including Visa, OpenAI, and Anthropic, among others you've probably heard of. The fact that it uses the EVM means that smart contract developers within Ethereum's vast decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem -- the largest single population of developers in the crypto sector -- will be able to get up and running with Tempo very quickly, should they choose to develop apps for the chain.

The third player, Alphabet, via its Google Cloud division, is piloting the Google Cloud Universal Ledger, a chain intended for managing tokenized assets and making wholesale payments. While the network's full feature set isn't known yet, one of the stated objectives is for it to be a neutral platform that banks and other financial businesses can use without worrying about creating potential conflicts of interest. Beyond that, the GCUL has the potential to be a powerful competitor solely on the basis of Alphabet's considerable financial heft.

As of Sept. 15, $280.9 billion in stablecoins already exist, up by 5.3% in the prior 30 days alone. In other words, this pie is already quite large, and it's growing quickly. Is there still room for XRP to flourish?

XRP's thesis is broader than a stablecoin land grab

If XRP's investment thesis was solely about the chain's status as a stablecoin venue, the above would be extremely alarming for its investors.

But the XRPL has a handful native features that are designed for regulated money movement and tokenized asset management operations that extend beyond parking stablecoin balances.

The ledger includes a built‑in decentralized exchange (DEX) and a protocol‑level automated market maker (AMM), so tokenized assets and issued currencies can trade and settle on‑chain without needing any extra contracts. It also has a suite of asset issuer‑level controls like authorized trust lines and transaction clawback tools that fulfill the regulatory compliance guardrails large financial institutions require before committing to use a new financial technology.

Another pair of important aspects of the XRPL are its very low transaction fees and quite fast transaction finality. There isn't real-world performance data about the three new chains as of yet, so it's very possible that they will be slower or more expensive to use, especially shortly after they launch. Likewise, the XRPL has proven to be a highly reliable platform, and the others haven't had the opportunity to prove themselves yet, so risk-averse financial institutions and institutional investors are very likely to be hesitant to adopt them until there's enough data.

There are still a few risks to XRP's value here, and over the long term, the risks may grow to be significant even if they're not very worrisome today. Assuming Arc, GCUL, or Tempo gain traction, some portion of future stablecoin balances and payment volumes that might have landed on the XRPL could migrate to those chains instead, and GCUL's bank‑friendly posture could keep high‑grade collateral on its chain too. That means XRP's base‑case growth rate is probably going to moderate compared with a world where it was the only credible institutional option.

But its growth potential doesn't rest on the stablecoin segment alone. And given the rapid pace of that segment's expansion right now, even if it did, it would probably still be just fine, as there's enough capital flowing in for multiple winners to co-exist.

Therefore XRP remains a reasonable long‑term allocation for investors who want exposure to regulated cross‑border settlement and tokenized finance alike. It's still worth buying. Just be aware that the competition has a good shot at capping some of the upside of this asset eventually.

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Alex Carchidi has positions in Alphabet, Circle Internet Group, and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Ethereum, Visa, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.