Ripple, the provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, announced that Ripple USD (RLUSD) will be available on global exchanges starting, December 17, 2024.
RLUSD is described as an “enterprise-grade,” USD-denominated stablecoin created with trust, utility, and compliance at its core, backed by Ripple’s experience working with crypto and the financial system.
RLUSD will be available on Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax, and CoinMENA, with additional listings on platforms such as Bullish, Bitstamp, Mercado Bitcoin, Independent Reserve, Zero Hash and others “expected in the coming weeks.”
Each RLUSD token is said to be “fully” backed by U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. government bonds, and cash equivalents—designed to “ensure its stability, reliability, and liquidity.”
To maintain the standards of transparency, Ripple claims that it will release monthly, third-party attestations of RLUSD’s reserve assets, “conducted by an independent auditing firm.”
Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO said:
“Early on, Ripple made a deliberate choice to launch our stablecoin under the NYDFS limited purpose trust company charter, widely regarded as the premier regulatory standard worldwide. As the U.S. moves toward clearer regulations, we expect to see greater adoption of stablecoins like RLUSD, which offer real utility and are backed by years of trust and expertise in the industry.”
Key RLUSD partners include exchanges, market makers, and payment providers, which will aim to drive adoption as well as greater usage across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, UK, and Middle East regions.
RLUSD is ideal for financial use cases and allows institutions to:
- Facilitate instant settlement of cross-border payments.
- Access liquidity for remittance and treasury operations.
- Seamlessly integrate with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
- Reliably bridge between traditional fiat currencies and the crypto ecosystem, ensuring a seamless and efficient transition when entering (on-ramping) or exiting (off-ramping) the crypto space.
- Provide collateralization for trading tokenized real-world assets such as commodities, securities, and treasuries onchain.
Early next year, Ripple Payments will reportedly use RLUSD in order to “facilitate global payments on behalf of its enterprise customers.”
Ripple Payments has served $70 billion in payments volume and counting, and has near-global coverage with 90+ payout markets, which “represent more than 90% coverage of the daily FX market.”
RLUSD is available on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchains, offering flexibility and scalability for “a range of financial use cases.”
Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and Kenneth Montgomery, former First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, will join the RLUSD advisory board to provide “guidance on regulatory, financial, and operational aspects to support RLUSD’s stability and growth.”
Rajan and Montgomery join the ranks of the existing advisory board including former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chair Sheila Bair, Vice Chairman of Partners Capital and former CENTRE Consortium CEO David Puth, and Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen.
Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, believes stablecoins could emerge as the backbone of private payments.
“With its focus on compliance and reliability, RLUSD aims to establish new standards for trust and to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of payments. Joining the Advisory Board provides me an opportunity to counsel RLUSD as it embarks on its journey in the rapidly evolving financial landscape.”
Kenneth Montgomery, former First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, concurred stating stablecoins are becoming the cornerstone of payments with speed and efficiency, challenging traditional payments rails.
“I look forward to collaborating with the Ripple team to support the global growth and adoption of RLUSD, unlocking new opportunities for financial inclusion and modernizing the future of payments.”
RLUSD sets the standard for stablecoins, combining innovative functionality with the regulatory “rigor and credibility” of an NYDFS-issued New York limited purpose trust company, “highlighting Ripple’s leadership in fostering trust and transparency in digital assets.”
