Ripple, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions powered by XRP, is ready to issue its own stablecoin, pending regulatory approval. RLUSD, which has been in development since April, will join the growing ranks of USD-backed stablecoins if approved by the New York Department of Financial Services.
It is unclear when DFS approval will be granted, but Ripple President Monica Long announced the list of distribution partners at the Ripple Swell conference in Miami on Tuesday. The stablecoin will be available to customers and institutions on global exchanges and wallets including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, Independent Reserve, CoinMENA, and Bullish. Ripple also partners with market makers such as B2C2 and Keyrock.
Long also announced the creation of an advisory committee to oversee stablecoin market entry and ensure regulatory compliance. The board of directors is comprised of former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Sheila Baer, former CENTER consortium CEO David Puth, and Ripple co-founder and executive chairman Chris Larsen.
In an interview with Fortune, Long said compliance is Ripple’s top priority. “There’s a lot of potential for innovation in this area. It’s really, really important that the product is reliable and follows the same rules that other financial products follow,” Long said.
Unlike the two most popular stablecoins, USDT and USDC, RLUSD will be placed on the New York Department of Financial Services’ “Green List” once it is finally approved.
“The New York DFS is a highly respected regulator in the U.S. and internationally, and has issued some of the most detailed stablecoin guidance,” Long told Fortune. “So what that means is that there are certain rules, for example, regarding the composition of the reserves held, the timing of redemptions, the transparency of certification, etc. So this is one of the most robust stablecoins. It’s seen as a regulatory structure.”
The stablecoin industry has grown rapidly since 2014, reaching a market capitalization of $172 billion, but USDC and USDT dominate the space. Even PayPal, which launched a stablecoin in 2023, has struggled to gain traction.
Despite these challenges, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse believes RLUSD can compete against the two stablecoin giants. “With early exchange partner RLUSD’s clear utility and demand, and strong focus on regulatory compliance, Ripple’s stablecoin is poised to become the gold standard for enterprise-grade stablecoins,” Garlinghouse said in a statement. “There is,” he said.
Ripple partners with banks and crypto exchanges around the world to quickly and easily settle payments worldwide. Long said XRP will act as a “bridge currency” used to pay for gas fees and transaction fees on the XRP ledger. RLUSD has many different use cases.
“We see RLUSD as an on-and-off ramp from the analog world, the traditional world, the fiat world, where there needs to be some way to get dollars in and out of the digital asset world.” Mr. Long said. He said RLUSD will be most useful for settling international payments and tokenizing real-world assets such as securities, bonds, and even real estate.
