RLUSD vs USDC: Can AI-Agent Payments Give Ripple a Real Stablecoin Use Case?

The article argues that AI-agent payment systems could strengthen stablecoin utility by making routing, settlement certainty, and policy controls more important than brand. Mastercard’s new Agent Pay for Machines and its expanded stablecoin settlement support, including USDC and Ripple’s RLUSD, are the key market developments. USDC retains a major lead in scale and liquidity with about $74.8B in circulation, while RLUSD is much smaller at roughly $1.6B-$1.8B but is gaining traction through enterprise corridors, including new institutional access in Türkiye. The likely market impact is a shift toward multi-coin settlement competition, where USDC benefits from network effects and RLUSD could win specific regional or enterprise use cases if it offers better integration or economics. The piece is constructive on stablecoin adoption overall, but emphasizes operational and regulatory risks, as well as the need for treasury and merchant controls.