Key takeaways
- Ripple announces RLUSD stablecoin launch on December 17, 2024.
- The XRP token rises 8% on RLUSD news to hit $2.56 with a market cap of $146 billion.
Ripple has officially announced that its USD-backed stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), will launch on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.
Initially, the stablecoin will be available on exchanges including Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax and CoinMENA, with additional listings expected on Bullish, Bitstamp, Mercado Bitcoin, Independent Reserve, Zero Hash and more in the coming weeks.
RLUSD will be fully backed by deposits in US dollars, US Treasuries and cash, according to Ripple’s press release.
As part of its commitment to transparency, Ripple will publish monthly third-party certifications of RLUSD’s reserves performed by an independent accounting firm.
“Early on, Ripple made a conscious choice to launch our stablecoin under the NYDFS limited purpose trust company charter, widely regarded as the premier regulatory standard worldwide,” said Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO.
RLUSD will operate on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchains, offering flexibility and scalability for cross-border payments and DeFi integration across multiple blockchains.
Ripple Payments plans to integrate RLUSD into its global payment network, which has already processed over $70 billion in payment volume across more than 90 payment markets.
Raghuram Rajan, former central bank governor of India, and Kenneth Montgomery, former COO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, have joined the RLUSD advisory board.
“Stablecoins can become the backbone of private payments by offering a secure, scalable and efficient alternative to traditional systems,” Rajan said.
Ripple’s XRP token also saw a surge following the announcement, jumping 8% and trading at $2.56, with a market capitalization of $146 billion.
This places XRP as the third largest crypto asset by market capitalization, surpassing Tether (USDT), which has a market capitalization of $140 billion.
