Virtually all Ripple USD (RLUSD) tokens were burned on Wednesday, according to the Ripple Stablecoin Tracker account on the X social media network. 

A total of 46,676,120 RLUSD tokens were burned just within 24 hours.   

Some believe that the burning spree might mean that Ripple's official announcement about the launch of a stablecoin could be in the offing .

Vet, a dUNL validator on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), has noted that securing approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS or NYSDFS) remains a key hurdle. 

The San Francisco-based enterprise blockchain company waded into the stablecoin sector back in April, aiming to tap into the growing demand for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies. 

The market capitalization of Tether, the undisputed market leader, recently surpassed the $130 billion mark. Circle's USDC is also sitting close to $40 billion. 

As reported by U.Today, Ripple started testing the new stablecoin back in August with a limited number of enterprise partners. 

From the get-go, the stablecoin is available both on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum. Ripple also did not rule out adding support for more networks in the future. 

Earlier this month, Ripple President Monica Long said that the company's upcoming stablecoin will be already used by several customers upon its public launch. 

For now, however, it is not clear when the stablecoin will be officially release. Earlier, Long stated that she expected the stablecoin product to be launched as soon as this year.