RLUSD (Ripple USD)

What Is RLUSD?

RLUSD (Ripple USD) is a US dollar-pegged stablecoin designed for enterprise payments and institutional settlement. It launched on December 17, 2024, after receiving approval from the New York Department of Financial Services on December 10, 2024. Unlike stablecoins that emerged from crypto-native ecosystems, RLUSD was built from the ground up for regulated financial institutions and cross-border payment corridors.

The stablecoin is issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, LLC, a NYDFS-chartered limited-purpose trust company that Ripple acquired in June 2024. This structure means RLUSD operates under the same regulatory framework that governs other New York-supervised stablecoins, requiring 100% backing by highly liquid, short-term reserve assets.

Ripple's strategy positions RLUSD as the settlement layer for its cross-border payment network, Ripple Payments (formerly On-Demand Liquidity). Rather than competing directly with USDC or USDT for retail DeFi volume, RLUSD targets the enterprise segment: banks, payment providers, and multinational corporations that need compliant, fast settlement across currencies and borders.

How It Works

Reserve Structure

RLUSD maintains a reserve fund that exceeds total circulating supply. As of August 2026, the reserve stood at approximately $1.7 billion against $1.59 billion in circulation. The reserve consists of four asset types:

• US Treasury bills with residual maturity of three months or less
• Government money market funds (SEC Rule 2a-7 compliant)
• Overnight reverse repurchase agreements using T-bills or Treasury notes with NYDFS-approved counterparties
• US dollar deposits held at state or federally chartered depository institutions

BNY Mellon serves as the primary custodian, holding reserves in segregated accounts separate from Ripple's corporate funds. This structure mirrors the reserve model used by other NYDFS-regulated stablecoins, though RLUSD notably excludes non-qualifying assets such as corporate bonds, secured loans, or cryptocurrency: a contrast with Tether's reserve mix.

Dual-Chain Deployment

RLUSD is natively issued on two blockchains: the XRP Ledger and Ethereum. Each chain serves a different segment of the market:

• XRP Ledger: optimized for fast settlement (3-5 second finality), low fees, and integration with Ripple Payments. As of June 2026, XRPL holds approximately $801 million in RLUSD supply, surpassing Ethereum for the first time.
• Ethereum: provides access to the broader DeFi ecosystem, including lending protocols like Aave. Approximately $795 million in RLUSD circulates on Ethereum.

Ripple is expanding RLUSD to Ethereum Layer 2 networks (Base, Optimism, Unichain, and Ink) using Wormhole's Native Token Transfers (NTT) infrastructure. These L2 deployments are pending final NYDFS regulatory approval as of mid-2026.

Minting and Redemption

Authorized participants can mint and redeem RLUSD through Ripple Mint, a dedicated platform for institutional stablecoin operations. The process follows the standard mint-and-burn model:

1. An institution deposits US dollars with the issuer (Standard Custody & Trust)
2. The issuer verifies the deposit and mints an equivalent amount of RLUSD on the requested chain
3. For redemption, the institution sends RLUSD back to the issuer
4. The issuer burns the tokens and releases the corresponding US dollars

Partners like OpenPayd provide direct minting and burning capabilities with fiat conversion, allowing enterprises to move between RLUSD and traditional currencies without manual processes.

Regulatory Framework

RLUSD operates under dual regulatory oversight, a structure that is unusual among stablecoins:

• State level: NYDFS supervises Standard Custody & Trust Company under a limited-purpose trust company charter, enforcing reserve requirements, consumer protections, and compliance standards
• Federal level: the OCC granted conditional approval to Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB) on December 12, 2025, making Ripple one of five crypto firms to receive a national trust bank charter alongside Circle, Paxos, BitGo, and others

The GENIUS Act, signed into law on July 18, 2025, established a federal regulatory framework for permitted payment stablecoins. RLUSD's existing compliance infrastructure positions it to meet GENIUS Act requirements without significant restructuring. For a broader view of how US stablecoin regulation is evolving, see the GENIUS Act deep dive.

International Expansion

In June 2026, RLUSD became available in Japan through SBI VC Trade after the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) approved it as a "Type 4 electronic payment instrument": the first approval of its kind in Japan. Ripple's partnership with SBI Group, one of Japan's largest financial conglomerates, positions RLUSD for institutional adoption across Asia-Pacific markets.

RLUSD vs. Other Major Stablecoins

The stablecoin market is dominated by a few major issuers, each targeting different segments. For a comprehensive analysis of how these dynamics play out, see the research on stablecoin competitive dynamics.

RLUSD's key differentiator is its integration with Ripple's existing cross-border payment network, which connects to over 80 payment markets globally. While USDC leads in DeFi integration and USDT dominates retail trading volume, RLUSD targets the enterprise corridor: banks and payment providers that need a compliant stablecoin embedded in an end-to-end payment solution.

Use Cases

Cross-Border Enterprise Payments

Ripple's primary use case for RLUSD is the "stablecoin sandwich": a payment model where transactions start and end in local fiat currency but use RLUSD for the settlement leg in between. This eliminates the need for nostro/vostro accounts and pre-funded positions in destination currencies.

In March 2026, Ripple partnered with Convera (a major cross-border payment provider covering 140 currencies across 200 countries) to use this model for enterprise payments. The sender converts local currency to RLUSD, Ripple Payments routes the RLUSD to the destination corridor, and the recipient converts RLUSD to local fiat: all within minutes rather than the days required by traditional correspondent banking.

Card Network Settlement

In November 2025, Mastercard announced a pilot with Gemini and WebBank to settle credit card transactions using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger. This represents one of the first integrations of a stablecoin into traditional card network settlement flows, potentially reducing settlement times from T+2 days to near-instant finality.

Tokenized Asset Settlement

Through a partnership with Securitize, holders of BlackRock's BUIDL and VanEck's VBILL tokenized treasury fund shares can swap into RLUSD on-chain 24/7. This connects tokenized real-world assets with stablecoin liquidity, enabling institutional investors to move between yield-bearing instruments and dollar-denominated settlement without leaving the blockchain.

Remittances

Ripple's June 2026 partnership with Flutterwave targets remittance flows across Sub-Saharan Africa. By using RLUSD as a settlement asset, senders can avoid the high fees and multi-day delays of traditional remittance corridors, particularly in markets where dollar-denominated settlement is in high demand.

Risks and Considerations

Issuer Concentration Risk

RLUSD is issued by a single entity (Standard Custody & Trust Company) wholly owned by Ripple. This creates counterparty risk: if Ripple faces financial difficulties, regulatory action, or operational failures, RLUSD holders depend on the segregated reserve structure and regulatory oversight to protect their funds. The dual NYDFS and OCC oversight mitigates this risk to a degree, but it remains a fundamental trade-off of centralized fiat-backed stablecoins.

Ecosystem Lock-In

RLUSD's value proposition is closely tied to Ripple's payment network. Enterprises that adopt RLUSD for cross-border settlement become dependent on Ripple's infrastructure, liquidity, and corridor coverage. While the Ethereum deployment provides DeFi access independent of Ripple, the XRP Ledger deployment (which holds the majority of supply) is tightly coupled with Ripple's ecosystem.

Competitive Pressure

At approximately $1.7 billion in market cap, RLUSD is significantly smaller than USDC ($42 billion) and USDT ($140 billion+). In enterprise stablecoin markets, Circle's USDC has established deep integrations with payment processors and DeFi protocols. Ripple's advantage is its existing relationships with banks and payment providers through Ripple Payments, but converting these relationships into RLUSD adoption requires sustained execution.

Reserve Transparency

RLUSD publishes monthly attestation reports prepared by Deloitte following AICPA standards. While this exceeds Tether's quarterly reporting, it falls short of USDC's combination of monthly attestations, weekly reserve data, and daily SEC filings. Monthly attestations are point-in-time snapshots and do not guarantee that reserves are maintained continuously between reporting periods. For more on how reserve transparency works across the industry, see the research on stablecoin reserve transparency.

Regulatory Uncertainty

While the GENIUS Act provides a clearer US framework, RLUSD's international expansion introduces regulatory complexity. Each jurisdiction (Japan, future markets) has its own licensing requirements and consumer protection standards. The blacklisting and freeze capabilities required by regulators also mean RLUSD, like all regulated stablecoins, is not a censorship- resistant bearer instrument.

Why It Matters

RLUSD represents a new category of stablecoin: one built specifically for enterprise payment infrastructure rather than adapted to it after the fact. Its integration with Ripple Payments, dual regulatory oversight, and expansion into card network settlement signal a shift in how traditional financial institutions interact with stablecoin rails.

For the broader stablecoin ecosystem, RLUSD's growth adds competitive pressure that benefits users through better compliance standards, more transparent reserves, and wider corridor coverage. As stablecoins like RLUSD, USDC, and PYUSD compete for enterprise adoption, the infrastructure for stablecoin-based payment rails continues to mature. Projects like Spark, which enable fast, low-cost transfers on Bitcoin Layer 2 infrastructure, complement this trend by providing additional settlement options for dollar-denominated digital assets.

This glossary entry is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Always do your own research before using any protocol or technology.