What is RLUSD? Full Guide to Ripple’s Stablecoin

Ripple USD (RLUSD), a hotly-anticipated stablecoin by U.S. fintech giant Ripple, went live Dec. 17, 2024 after months of testing.

In this guide, we are going to discuss the features of the new stablecoin, its role for the segment and the potential impact on the XRP price.

Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin gains traction: Highlights

Ripple USD or RLUSD is a stable cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar that is issued by the subsidiary of Ripple decacorn.

• Launched in December 2024, Ripple USD (RLUSD) is a stablecoin by Ripple pegged to the U.S. dollar at a 1:1 rate.
• RLUSD is a centralized stablecoin issued by Ripple’s wholly owned subsidiary upon the approval by N.Y. Department of Financial Services.
• RLUSD is issued under a New York Trust Company charter, which makes it subject to U.S. regulation.
• Ripple’s USD is simultaneously issued on top of two blockchains: Ethereum and XRP Ledger (XRPL).
• RLUSD is designed to be used in e-commerce, cross-border payments and XRPL-centric DeFi applications.

Backed by the ecosystem affiliated with Ripple, one of the largest U.S. fintechs, RLUSD is part of Ripple’s program of increasing its share in the global digital economy.

What are stablecoins?

Stablecoins or stable cryptocurrencies are digital assets specifically designed to maintain a stable price pegged to largest global currencies, including USD, EUR, MXN, CNY, or commodities like Gold and Silver.

The concept of a stablecoin is set to address the problems of cryptocurrency volatility that prevents digital assets from being used in complex economic mechanisms. Ideologically, they offset the gap between traditional currencies and blockchain applications.

Centralized stablecoins

Centralized stablecoins are issued by some entities that are solely responsible for their backing, minting process and peg stability. Technically, an issuer keeps a basket of assets (fiat money, U.S. Treasury notes, precious metals and so on) and creates a corresponding amount of stablecoins on this or that blockchain.

Therefore, holders of centralized stablecoins should always be able to redeem underlying assets. The status of reserves for some major centralized stablecoins is controlled by third-party audits.

U.S. Dollar Tether (USDT) by Tether Limited and USD Coin (USDC) by Circle and Coinbase are the largest centralized stablecoins.

Decentralized stablecoins

Decentralized (algorithmic) stablecoins are fully on-chain: Their reserve basket includes only cryptocurrencies. For instance, an issuer (decentralized autonomous organization, DAO) holding 1,000 Ethers (ETH) can mint 3.3 million USD-pegged stablecoins with moderate risks. However, should the Ether value be shrinking, the reserve prices will drop and decentralized stablecoins will lose their peg.

Decentralized stablecoins can be very risky, but they are more censorship-resistant as no single entity controls their supply dynamic.

FRAX by Frax Finance and Magic Internet Money (MIM) are decentralized stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Top stablecoins in 2025: List

Stablecoins are particularly popular since they have all the advantages of cryptocurrencies, but are not volatile. Since the inception of the stablecoin concept, the segment surged to a $211 billion market cap.

1. Tether (USDT)
2. USDC (USDC)
3. Ethena USDe (USDE)
4. USDS (USDS)
5. Dai (DAI)
6. First Digital USD (FDUSD)
7. Usual USD (USD0)
8. USDD (USDD)
9. Tether Gold (XAUT)
10. Frax (FRAX).

Despite there being hundreds of stablecoins existing across various blockchains, the five largest stablecoins are responsible for over 90% of aggregate stablecoin supply.

Tron (TRX), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polygon (POL), BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and TON are the most widely used blockchains for stablecoin issuance.

What is Ripple?

Ripple is a U.S.-based fintech company operating a global cross-border digital payments system. Launched in 2012 by blockchain innovators Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb, Ripple aims to improve cross-border value transfers by using distributed ledger technology to reduce costs and latency compared to traditional banking networks like SEPA.

XRP Ledger (XRPL), a decentralized open-source blockchain designed to facilitate seamless asset transfers, is a key technical element of Ripple’s offering for B2B and B2C. XRPL supports both fungible and non-fungible tokens. Not unlike other programmable blockchains, XRPL can be used for DeFi, NFT and other applications.

One of Ripple’s standout products is its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, which utilizes cryptocurrency to enable instant cross-border payments by sourcing liquidity in real time. ODL is a key innovation that supports faster, more cost-effective transactions compared to traditional methods.

Ripple has established ODL payment corridors across multiple regions, including Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Europe. In recent years, Ripple is expanding to new markets, including Japan, via its local subsidiary SBI. Also, Moneygram, one of the world’s largest digital money processors, was Ripple’s partner in 2017-2021.

Since the year of 2020, Ripple and its key officers Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse have been sued by U.S. SEC for illegal securities offering in the form of cryptocurrency tokens.

What is XRP and why is it so popular?

XRP is the core native cryptocurrency of XRP Ledger, its gas asset and major governance coin. It is used as a fee crypto for every transaction on XRPL. It relies on XRP Ledger as a tech basis and is accessible on centralized and decentralized exchanges.

During the 2016-2017 bullish rally, XRP gained traction as one of the most popular altcoins thanks to its unbelievable profitability. Since then, XRP is aggressively supported by its passionate enthusiasts in social media, the so-called “XRP Army.” Representatives of XRP Army are using Bitrue centralized exchange, Bitso local LatAm fintech, Sologenic XRPL-based decentralized exchange.

During the legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. SEC, XRP was called unregistered security by the regulators. Meanwhile, the U.S. court ruled that XRP cannot be regulated and taxated as security.

XRP is also used as a validator reward cryptocurrency for XRP Ledger node operators from the Default Unique Nodes List (dUNL), a list of 33 validation entities responsible for processing transactions within XRP Ledger. Previously, the majority of them were controlled by Ripple, but now the blockchain operates as a decentralized entity.

XRP price in 2025: What to expect

XRP is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Its net market cap exceeds $125 billion as of early January 2025.

Positive scenario

In the coming years, the XRP price can be catalyzed by the potential approval of an XRP ETF, an exchange-traded fund backed by spot XRP. The green light solution by the U.S. regulator might result in multiple ETFs launched by top-tier asset managers like Bitwise, Blackrock, ARK Invest and so on.

In January 2024, such products were approved for Bitcoin (BTC), while in July 2024 the first ETFs on spot Ether went live. By press time, 21 products with the net value of assets under management (AUM) over $113 billion are available for trading in the U.S.

To offer cryptocurrency-based ETFs, asset managers should purchase underlying assets, which creates additional buying pressure and results in increased asset prices.

Also, XRP would benefit from a final positive resolution in the Ripple v. SEC legal battle and an eased regulatory regime in the U.S. under the new administration.

Negative scenario

At the same time, by the moment of launch of potential spot XRP ETFs, the demand might already lose its steam. Spot ETH ETF launch in July 2024 attracted smaller attention compared to the Bitcoin ETF euphoria in January. As such, the next cohort of ETFs might be even less popular.

Also, XRP’s price performance in 2025 might be ruined by Ripple’s hypothetical loss in the legal saga with the SEC. Also, old-school altcoins are typically less volatile compared to new ones, which makes the first type less attractive for high-risk investors.

RLUSD stablecoin by Ripple: Comprehensive guide

The launch of Ripple USD (RLUSD), a new-gen centralized stablecoin by one of the largest U.S. fintechs Ripple, was among the most notable milestones for the entire global Web3 ecosystem in 2024.

RLUSD stablecoin: Basics

Ripple USD (RLUSD), a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin by fintech decacorn Ripple, was launched on mainnet Dec. 17, 2024. It is the first stablecoin by Ripple, which is among the most influential players of the global cross-border remittances market. RLUSD is able to fuel numerous use cases in B2B and B2C segments for individuals and corporations.

The initial release of RLUSD is live on two blockchains, Ethereum, the largest programmable blockchain, and XRP Ledger, a Ripple-linked high-performance blockchain and tech basis for XRP. As such, RLUSD can already be used in decentralized finance (DeFi) mechanisms on both blockchains with no need for Ripple’s approval.

RLUSD is an example of a fully regulated stablecoin as its launch was approved by New York Department of Finance Services, a U.S. regional fintech watchdog agency. RLUSD operates in accordance with a New York Trust Company charter, which gives Ripple one more regulated instrument for its financial services.

Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin is 1:1 pegged to the U.S. dollar price; Ripple guarantees the reliability of this peg. Via Ripple’s fully owned subsidiary, RLUSD is fully backed by a diversified portfolio of U.S. dollar deposits in partner banks, government bonds and cash equivalents.

RLUSD stablecoin: Tech design

RLUSD is a cryptocurrency coin (digital blockchain cash equivalent) that is minted (issued) on top of two blockchains. It means that the transactions in Ripple USD (RLUSD) can be handled by two decentralized networks with different sets of validators, which makes the stablecoin attack-resistant.

On the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, Ripple USD stablecoin exists as an ERC-20 compliant token. The ERC-20 (“Ethereum requests for comment”) design includes standard imported functions from OpenZeppelin and specific functions written by Ripple engineers. It means that RLUSD on Ethereum is a regular Ether-based token, but with some extra functions. The Ripple USD stablecoin is activated on the Ethereum Mainnet and Sepolia Testnet.

In order to avoid being scammed, users should keep in mind that only two tokens (mainnet and testnet) are real RLUSD, while others are blatant scams:

Mainnet Ethereum RLUSD contract: 0xCfd748B9De538c9f5b1805e8db9e1d4671f7F2ec

Sepolia Testnet RLUSD contract: 0x866386C7f4F2A5f46C5F4566D011dbe3e8679BE4.

On XRP Ledger (XRPL), the primary blockchain for Ripple’s business activity, the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin also works on the testnet and main network simultaneously.

Mainnet XRPL RLUSD Issuer account: rMxCKbEDwqr76QuheSUMdEGf4B9xJ8m5De
Testnet XRPL RLUSD Issuer account: rQhWct2fv4Vc4KRjRgMrxa8xPN9Zx9iLKV

In order to avoid being lured into buying fake RLUSD, cryptocurrency traders, investors and developers might double check the token data via public explorers or, for tech savvy users, via the command line interface for the corresponding blockchains.

RLUSD stablecoin: Legal status

Unlike the majority of stablecoin assets, Ripple USD (RLUSD) was launched with preliminary regulatory approval. The documents for RLUSD were submitted to the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in July 2024 by Ripple Labs.

The U.S. regulator green-lit the issuance of RLUSD under the New York Trust Company charter. Both the stablecoin itself and Ripple Labs’ authority to issue it were fully approved by U.S. government agencies, which makes RLUSD stand out in the stablecoin landscape globally.

With 100% regulatory approval in non-offshore jurisdiction, RLUSD is ready to be listed by exchanges globally. This is of paramount importance given the increased regulatory pressure that makes exchanges delist unregulated stablecoins.

Also, with an explicit regulatory approval in store, RLUSD can be used for cross-border transfers by corporations not unlike other digital cash equivalents. Asset managers will also be using regulated stablecoins with no limits as these currencies can be taxated and included in reserve balances.

While the exact schedule of audits for RLUSD is yet to be determined, Ripple Labs already informed about its plans to publish reserve attestations by third-party accountants monthly.

RLUSD stablecoin: Listings

To ensure a strong liquidity inflow, from the very beginning of its operations, RLUSD is listed on a clutch of high-reputed cryptocurrency exchanges. Ripple Labs scored partnerships with Uphold, MoonPay, B2C2, Keyrock, CoinMENA, Archax, Bitso, JST Digital, MB and Independent Reserve.

Also, the talks are underway with Bitstamp, Bullish, ZeroHash, FlowDesk and a number of other Tier 1 and Tier 2 exchanges.

As demonstrated by CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko, two leading cryptocurrency price trackers, RLUSD is also available on Mercado Bitcoin, a LatAm-centric cryptocurrency payments and exchange platform, and Sologenic, a flagship XRPL-based decentralized crypto exchange (DEX).

On Bullish, a Peter Thiel-backed crypto platform, RLUSD is available in pairs with USDC, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) and XRP. On Bitso, users can trade RLUSD against Mexican Peso (MXN), while on Independent Reserve, RLUSD/SGD and RLUSD/USD pairs are active.

On Sologenic, RLUSD can be traded in pairs with XRP, COREUM and SOLO, Sologenic’s native utility and governance cryptocurrency.

As of early January 2025, the RLUSD net supply is capped at $72 million, while the process of minting is still underway. As such, it is the 697th largest cryptocurrency and the 35th biggest stablecoin by capitalization, exceeding the caps of Gemini Dollar (GUSD) and Celo Dollar (CUSD).

RLUSD stablecoin: Killing features and use cases

RLUSD by Ripple demonstrates a number of advancements that make it special compared to other USD-pegged stablecoins:

• Regulated from day one. As the first NYDFS-regulated stablecoin, RLUSD has an advantage over decentralized, unregulated and offshore-regulated assets in terms of compliance with various regulatory frameworks.
• Multi-blockchain. RLUSD is running on both Ethereum (ETH) and XRP Ledger (XRPL), which makes it more flexible and adjustable when it comes to listings and integrations.
• Backed by a solid financial institution. After Paypal with its $535-million PYUSD stablecoin, Ripple is the second fintech major to have its own stablecoin venture.

This combination of features makes RLUSD the perfect choice for various use cases in B2B and B2C segments:

• Fast payments, including daily money transfers. RLUSD on Ethereum and XRP Ledger is suitable for both business and peer-to-peer payouts.
• Cross-border money transfers. RLUSD can be integrated for settlements as an on-ramp for bringing fiat on-chain and for derivatives markets.
• DeFi on XRPL and Ethereum. RLUSD is the first major stablecoin in the XRP Ledger ecosystem, which makes it a unique one for trading and liquidity providing.

At the same time, Ripple Labs stressed multiple times that RLUSD will never replace XRP in payment solutions by the company.

Wrapping up: What makes RLUSD special in 2025?

RLUSD or Ripple USD is a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin by Ripple, a fintech heavyweight. It was launched in December 2024 on XRP Ledger and Ethereum and is 1:1 backed by Ripple subsidiary’s reserves.

Since its first day, RLUSD has been approved by NYDFS: Its operations are regulated in accordance with New York Trust Company charter. In its first releases, the RLUSD market cap exceeded $72 million. Ripple USD (RLUSD) has already landed on a number of centralized crypto exchanges, including Bullish, Independent Reserve, fintech platforms Bitso and Mercado Bitcoin and Sologenic, the first XRPL-based DEX.

In 2025, Ripple is going to actively develop RLUSD, increase the scope of its integrations, grow its capitalization and announce new listings. These factors might be contributing to XRP price growth.