A new comparison from BE CRYPTO SMART examines whether banks are actually using XRP, Stellar (XLM), or Hedera (HBAR) — and the answer depends heavily on how adoption is defined.
Ripple and XRP have the broadest banking relationships, with names such as Bank of America, Santander, SBI, BNY, and Standard Chartered connected to Ripple’s wider ecosystem. However, Ripple now offers payments, custody, and the RLUSD stablecoin, so a bank working with Ripple does not automatically become a direct XRP user. For example, Ripple selected BNY in July 2025 as primary custodian for RLUSD reserves, while RLUSD circulation reached about $1.87 billion as of August 20, 2026. A February 3, 2026 SEC filing related to Bank of America also shows an investment exposure but not necessarily operational XRP use inside the bank.
Stellar (XLM) has fewer clearly named commercial banks, but its institutional infrastructure case is strong. U.S. Bank has been testing custom stablecoin issuance on Stellar with PwC and the Stellar Development Foundation. Mike Villano, head of digital asset products at U.S. Bank, said Stellar features allow issuers to freeze assets, reverse certain transactions, and apply controls required in regulated finance. More importantly, DTCC announced on May 27, 2026 that its DTC Tokenization Service plans to connect with the Stellar public blockchain, with tokenized DTC custodied assets expected to become available through Stellar in the first half of 2027.
Hedera (HBAR) shows the strongest evidence of banks directly testing its network. Shinhan Bank and SCB TechX completed a stablecoin remittance proof of concept on Hedera, with real-time settlement and foreign exchange integration involving tokenized South Korean won, Thai baht, and New Taiwan dollar. Shinhan Bank and Standard Bank have also participated as Hedera Council members, and Hedera’s governance includes Google, IBM, and Dell. However, many of Hedera’s strongest banking examples remain pilots rather than large-scale commercial volume.
The key lesson is that blockchain adoption does not automatically create token demand. Banks can use Ripple technology without buying XRP, issue stablecoins on Stellar without accumulating XLM, or test payments on Hedera without materially increasing HBAR demand.
