Ripple’s RLUSD attracts bids for 800 XRP. But why?

Ripple’s upcoming RLUSD stablecoin is attracting bids of up to 836 XRP ($2068) on onchain marketplaces ahead of its release on Tuesday, a sign of frenzy among enthusiasts who may be the first to hold the token.

Those bids range from 500 XRP ($1237) to as much as 836 XRP ($2068) as of Asian morning hours on Tuesday, CoinDesk saw on the Xaman application. Each XRP changes hands for just under $2.5, displays data.

“There is actually someone willing to pay $1,200/RLUSD for a tiny fraction of an RLUSD.,” Ripple Labs CTO David Schwartz said in a Monday post. “Tools show you the highest price someone is willing to pay, even if it’s just for a little bit. Maybe someone wants the “honor” of buying the first bit of RLUSD on DEX.”

“But rest assured, the price will come back to very close to $1 as soon as supply stabilizes. If it doesn’t, something is very seriously wrong,” Schwartz added.

Speculators often engage in high-priced transactions for small amounts of a new token or NFT to gain early access or to capitalize on the novelty of having the first batch.

As such, RLUSD may not have enough liquidity to sustain its peg effectively for the first few hours after it goes live, meaning there may be some price deviation from the intended peg of $1. However, each token will only be redeemed for one dollar and is unlikely to remain depegated for an extended period of time.

RLUSD will go live on the XRP Ledger (XRP) on Tuesday, CoinDesk reported, with initial listings on several exchanges and crypto platforms, including Uphold, MoonPay, Archax and CoinMENA.