Ripple, the international digital payment network behind XRP, is ready to launch its own stablecoin — pending regulatory approval. RLUSD, which has been in development since April, will join the growing ranks of stablecoins backed by the U.S. dollar, once it is approved by the New York Department of Financial Services.
While it is unclear when they will receive DFS approval, Ripple president Monica Long announced their 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 is also partnering with market makers including B2C2 and Keyrock.
Long also announced the creation of an advisory board that will oversee the stablecoin’s entrance into the market and ensure it remains compliant with regulations. The board consists of former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Sheila Bair, former CENTRE Consortium CEO David Puth, and Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen.
In an interview with Fortune, Long shared that compliance is Ripple’s utmost priority. “In this space, there’s so much potential for innovation, and it’s really, really important that the products can be trusted and that they’re following the same rules that other financial products follow,” Long said.
Unlike USDT and USDC, the two most popular stablecoins, RLUSD will be on the New York Department of Financial Services “Greenlist” when it is finally approved.
“New York DFS is a very highly regarded regulator in the U.S. and internationally, and they’ve issued the most detailed stablecoin guidance,” Long told Fortune. “So what that means is, for example, they have specific rules around the composition of the reserves you hold, the time for redemption, transparency for attestation. And so, this is just seen as like the most robust stablecoin 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 its stablecoin in 2023, is struggling to make inroads.
Despite these challenges, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse believes RLUSD can take on the two stablecoin giants. “With our initial exchange partners, clear utility and demand for RLUSD, and a strong focus on regulatory compliance, Ripple’s stablecoin is poised to become the gold standard for enterprise-grade stablecoins,” Garlinghouse said in a statement.
Ripple partners with banks and crypto exchanges all over the world to quickly and easily settle payments on a global scale. XRP acts as a “bridge currency” used to pay gas fees or transaction fees on the XRP ledger, Long said. RLUSD has different use cases.
“We see RLUSD as more of the on and off ramp from the analog world, or the traditional world, or fiat currency world, where you need some way to get dollars in and out of the digital asset world,” Long said. RLUSD will be most useful for settling international payments and tokenizing real world assets like securities, bonds and even real estate, she said.
