Despite Trump's Stablecoin Gold Rush Promises, PayPal's PYUSD and Ripple's RLUSD Have Failed to Gain Traction

Within the past week, financial publications like the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times have published features about Donald Trump ringing in a “stablecoin gold rush.”

Financial publications like the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times have recently published features about Donald Trump ringing in a “stablecoin gold rush.”

With a newly accommodative Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a Tether-friendly US Commerce Secretary, and the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) rescission of anti-crypto banking rules, stablecoins seem ostensibly poised for a banner year.

However, despite this nearly perfect political environment, PayPal’s PYUSD and Ripple’s RLUSD have still failed to attract even a single percentage point of their target market.

Squint to see PYUSD and RLUSD dominance

Ripple launched RLUSD in December as “the first enterprise-ready stablecoin” hosted on its XRP Ledger (XRPL). Apparently, not many enterprises were ready. Nearly three months since its debut, RLUSD has displaced less than 0.7% of its competition.

Worse, a strange first-week spike in RLUSD’s price caused concern about its ability to maintain its $1 peg. To its credit, the stablecoin is currently trading at $1.

PayPal has also struggled to gain traction for its PYUSD coin despite integrating it into a variety of its own apps and a number of third-party products. Although it remains committed to its proprietary coin and doubts that anything will arise out of a Joe Biden-era subpoena, market forces continue to dampen PYUSD’s momentum.

Despite Trump’s pro-US crypto business promises and stablecoin-friendly changes by regulators, offshore and transnational incumbents like Tether’s USDT, Sky’s USDS, Ethena’s USDE, and Maker’s DAI have retained overwhelming market dominance.

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