Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD has begun operating on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain, again highlighting changes in XRP's role within the ecosystem.

On June 5, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that XRP supporter Bill Morgan said a recent message describing XRP as a "complementary asset" after the RLUSD expansion differs from what the market expected in 2018.

The controversy began after Ripple announced the launch of RLUSD on the XRPL EVM sidechain. Ripple said developers can use familiar EVM tools while building services in an environment connected to XRPL. It also said demand for compliant stablecoins is growing in decentralised finance (DeFi) and multichain financial applications.

Ripple said that as RLUSD expands across supported blockchains, XRP will increasingly serve as a complementary asset in liquidity, payment settlement, swaps, collateral and payouts. As Ripple's multichain strategy centered on RLUSD accelerates, it has used language that redefines XRP's position.

Morgan said this explanation differs from the vision some XRP supporters had promoted in the past. "XRP is increasingly moving closer to a complementary-asset role? That is quite different from the vision described in 2018," he said. He raised the issue that a gap has emerged between narratives some supporters previously advanced and the current vision.

When asked in the community what the 2018 vision was, Morgan replied that for some supporters it was "all the money." This refers to a long-held expectation that XRP would become the dominant bridge asset for global value transfers. At the time, the narrative leaned toward XRP becoming a "core asset" handling most global money flows.

Morgan said this did not mean XRP is no longer needed. He drew a line between the two points, saying Ripple is accelerating RLUSD expansion while describing XRP as a complementary asset rather than a dominant one. The issue, he said, was not whether XRP's utility has disappeared, but whether expectations and role definitions for XRP are changing.

After another user said Morgan may have misunderstood XRP's original vision, he pushed back, saying his point did not stem from a personal lack of understanding. He again stressed that his point was the difference between Ripple's recent explanation and the narrative the community has spread over the past several years.

Ripple is currently expanding RLUSD to multiple blockchain networks. In the process, XRP is showing a trend of positioning itself not as the ecosystem's only core asset but as an asset that complements liquidity, payments and collateral functions. As RLUSD's multichain expansion and a redefinition of XRP's role proceed together, what asset structure the Ripple ecosystem will settle into has emerged as a key point to watch.

XRP to increasingly serve as a complementary asset? Not quite the vision back in 2018 when the train left the station https://t.co/cAXFEZDqZs