The stablecoins blockchain legitimacy debate gains traction as crypto security analyst and Paradigm consultant ZachXBT highlights the role of stablecoins issued by major entities like Circle, Tether, and Paxos. He argues that the circulation of these stablecoins serves as a strong indicator of a blockchain network’s trustworthiness, adoption, and overall utility.
His remarks follow the recent declaration by U.S. President Donald Trump declaring some digital assets will be put into the strategic crypto reserves of the country. The noted assets are Cardano, XRP, Solana, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. ZachXBT notes, despite this awareness, that neither Cardano nor the XRP Ledger now hosts stablecoins from reputable issuers.
One of the better indicators to judge how legitimate a chain is by how many native stables they have issued from Circle, Tether, or Paxos.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) March 3, 2025
Both ADA and XRP have zero from major stablecoin issuers….
If blockchain networks really provided value, the expert says, well-known stablecoin producers would have already included their assets into these systems. The lack of large stablecoins begs issues regarding the appeal of these blockchains for general acceptance.
Viewpoint of Cardano Foundation
But according to Cardano Foundation CEO Frederik Gregaard, stability of coin existence cannot determine legitimacy entirely. He underlines other important elements including security, decentralization, and practical application examples. Gregaard notes that Cardano is more concerned with long-term infrastructure development and predicts that someday big stablecoin issuers will see the network’s promise.
Cardano lets native Tether or USDC stablecoins be used across the Wanchain Bridge even though it does not now host them. The network has also debuted its own stablecoins, the USDM fiat-backed USDM released in March 2024 and Djed (DJED), backed by ADA.
Stablecoin Development by Ripple and XRP Holdings
In a similar vein, the XRP Ledger lacks native support for significant stablecoins but has seen the creation of Ripple’s RLUSD, which became trading on some platforms in December 2025. According to Ripple President Monica Long, RLUSD will shortly be available on bigger markets.
Beyond stablecoins, ZachXBT also draws attention to significant latent XRP holdings connected to Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen. Larsen-owned wallets, he observes, have roughly 2.7 billion XRP worth, more over $7 billion. Early this year, some of these monies were transferred to exchanges, which sparked rumors of possible sell-offs. But several wallets have stayed inactive for years, which begs the issue of whether Larsen still has access to them.
Larsen suffered a significant hack earlier in January 2024, losing 213 million XRP valued over $112 million at the time. This episode heightened worries about the security of notable crypto assets.
The Way Ahead
Although the lack of significant stablecoins on Cardano and XRP Ledger begs problems, both networks are growing their ecosystems. Cardano’s efforts in security and scalability as well as Ripple’s advocacy of stablecoin acceptance point to these blockchains changing to appeal to a larger spectrum. Though the future acceptance of these networks may open doors, big issuers’ integration of their stablecoins is yet a subject of debate.
