A top executive at health services giant Evernorth is pushing back against the idea that Ripple's new dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, spells trouble for XRP. Sagar Shah, the company's chief business officer, argued this week that the two digital assets serve fundamentally different roles — and that RLUSD cannot replace XRP as a neutral bridge for settling cross-asset trades.
Playground trading and the need for a bridge
Shah used a simple analogy to explain why even as more tokenized assets flood the market, a single routing asset remains essential. Imagine a playground where kids trade stickers, baseball cards and marbles. If each child wants to swap directly, they'd need hundreds of separate trades. But if everyone agrees to use, say, a rare coin as a common medium, the whole process becomes efficient. That, Shah said, is the role XRP plays on the XRP Ledger — a neutral asset that can settle any trade between any two tokens.
RLUSD, by contrast, is designed to hold a steady $1 value, making it useful when a transaction involves a dollar leg. But it lacks the neutrality and technical properties needed for a universal routing asset, according to Shah.
Three reasons RLUSD can't replace XRP
Shah laid out three specific arguments. First, issuer risk. A stablecoin like RLUSD depends entirely on the solvency and honesty of its issuer. If the issuer runs into trouble, the stablecoin's value could break its peg. XRP, as a native token of the XRP Ledger, carries no such counterparty risk.
Second, lack of neutrality. Stablecoin issuers must comply with sanctions and government restrictions. That means they can freeze addresses or block transactions when ordered. XRP, under its current protocol design, cannot be frozen or prevented from settling a trade. That neutrality is critical for a routing asset that must work across multiple jurisdictions and regulatory regimes.
Third, market structure. In decentralized liquidity pools, trades require two distinct assets. XRP commonly serves as the common bridge between any two tokens. RLUSD is just another token in the pool — it can't play the same bridge role because it's tied to a single fiat currency.
Different tools for different jobs
Shah acknowledged that RLUSD has its place. When a trade involves a dollar-denominated asset, a stablecoin is the most direct way to settle. But he stressed that doesn't make RLUSD an XRP killer. The two assets are built for different purposes, and the growth of tokenized assets will only increase demand for a neutral routing asset like XRP, he argued.
His comments come as Ripple pushes RLUSD into wider circulation, aiming to compete with established stablecoins like USDC and USDT. Some crypto observers had speculated that RLUSD might eventually displace XRP within Ripple's own ecosystem. Shah's remarks offer a clear counter from a major enterprise customer.
Evernorth, a subsidiary of The Cigna Group, provides pharmacy benefit management and health services. Its interest in blockchain-based settlement suggests a growing appetite among traditional companies for tokenized asset infrastructure — but also a cautious approach that keeps a neutral, non-fungible bridge asset at the center.
