What Is RLUSD Stablecoin And How Does It Work?

The passing of the GENIUS Act in the US Senate on June 19 marks the beginning of an era of regulated stablecoins. It lit a fire under a new wave of compliant digital dollars. RLUSD was Ripple’s answer to the call.

Unlike earlier stablecoin launches that danced in legal grey zones, RLUSD is purpose-built for a world shaped by the GENIUS Act. Ripple US is fully backed, transparently audited, and issued under regulatory oversight.

Also Read: What Are Dark Stablecoins?

Since its launch, Ripple Labs’ stablecoin recorded ‘above expectations’ growth in Q1 of 2025.

This article deep dives into what Ripple USD is, its features and use cases, and how it is related to XRP. 

RLUSD, or Ripple USD, is a fully-reserved stablecoin pegged to the US dollar in a 1:1 ratio and built natively on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchains. It is a USD-denominated stablecoin created by Standard Custody & Trust Company, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ripple Labs.

Ripple Labs has been an industry leader in cross-border payments and blockchain technology for over a decade. The company got the regulatory green light from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) on December 10, 2024. On December 17, RLUSD stablecoin was officially launched on multiple crypto exchanges.

Also Read: What Are Stablecoins?

Ripple USD is currently being used for enterprise-level use cases, given Ripple’s integration of RLUSD in its cross-border payments system, Ripple Payments, in April 2025. However, Ripple USD markets are performing well as retail interest in the XRP stablecoin is steadily catching up. RLUSD has a market cap of $415M. At the time of writing, Ripple’s website shows 23 exchanges and on-ramps listing RLUSD, including Transak, where you can buy Ripple USD. 

Ripple integrated RLUSD into its cross-border payments system, Ripple Payments, in April 2025.  Ripple USD markets are performing well, given its market capitalization and circulating supply is worth $415M. As of June 20, the official Ripple USD Page has 23 exchanges and on-ramps listing RLUSD, including Transak where you can buy Ripple USD.

Buy RLUSD with credit card

RLUSD’s primary market focus is institutions and enterprises, especially those involved in cross-border payments, treasury management, and tokenized asset platforms.

User Type	Why RLUSD Appeals to Them
Institutions	Regulatory compliance, liquidity for payments, and tokenization strategies.
Developers	Ability to use RLUSD in DeFi, NFTs, and dApps across XRP Ledger and Ethereum.
Enterprises	Seamless integration into payment flows or on-chain finance systems.
Retail users	Secure, transparent, and fast stablecoin for peer-to-peer transfers and saving.

Ripple USD boasts quite a few generic (to stablecoins) and unique features:

One of the defining features of RLUSD is its commitment to monthly reserve attestations, which serve as a critical transparency mechanism to build trust with users and regulators.

Monthly reserve attestations are independent, third-party verifications published monthly to confirm that the total supply of RLUSD is fully backed by real-world assets, such as:

• U.S. dollar deposits
• U.S. Treasury bills
• Cash equivalents (like short-term government securities)

Each report matches the circulating RLUSD to the value of the reserves held by Ripple. By regularly publishing these reports, Ripple ensures that users can verify the solvency of the RLUSD stablecoin at any time.

Each attestation report typically includes the total supply of RLUSD in circulation, the exact value and composition of the reserves, and confirmation of the auditor’s identity and accounting standards followed. This level of detail brings RLUSD in line with leading stablecoins like USDC and PYUSD.

Also Read: What is PayPal USD?

Early iterations of stablecoins prioritized decentralization ethos without any regard for TradFi compliance. So, they could never be adopted seamlessly by enterprises and institutions that function within the boundaries of the law.

RLUSD comes out of the box with enterprise-grade compliance. So, RLUSD particularly appealing to institutions, financial platforms, and enterprises that require high standards of compliance before adopting or integrating digital assets.

Ripple has worked with more than 50 central banks and regulators, and its infrastructure has been used in real-world pilots for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). RLUSD inherits this regulatory-first approach. It is designed to align with expected U.S. stablecoin regulations, especially frameworks like the GENIUS Act, which emphasizes 1:1 backing, redemption rights, and regular disclosures. These principles are built directly into RLUSD’s operational model.

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Ripple USD recently got approval in the UAE via the DFSA regime in Dubai.  

Interoperability is a strategically crucial trait of RLUSD that’d make it successful because then it could attract users from diverse ecosystems.

At launch, RLUSD is interoperable with XRL Ledger and Ethereum. For developers, it means they can build multi-chain dApps or bridges that utilize RLUSD without being tied to one ecosystem. For users, it unlocks smoother experiences like sending RLUSD via low-cost XRP Ledger rails and then interacting with DeFi protocols on Ethereum using the same stablecoin.

From an enterprise perspective, this interoperability supports a more unified and efficient approach to global finance. Businesses can settle payments using RLUSD on whichever chain best suits their needs without worrying about fragmentation, conversions, or multiple liquidity pools.

Currently, RLUSD is fully backed by cash, other cash equivalents, and short-term US treasuries. Every RLUSD coin maintains its peg to the US dollar and is redeemable for $1. Later on, these reserves can also include precious metals, like gold and silver, which would further increase its stability and attractiveness for institutions.

Every transaction on the XRP Ledger requires a small fee denominated in XRP, and that fee is permanently burned, meaning it’s removed from the total circulating supply of XRP.

In theory, removing XRP from circulation over time introduces deflationary pressure, which could support price stability or growth if demand rises. However, as the burn amount is extremely small per transaction. Even at Visa-scale volume, XRP supply would shrink by less than 0.01% per year.

So, the short-term impact on price is negligible, but over many years and with large-scale adoption (especially of RLUSD), the cumulative effect may grow.

Also Read: What Does It Mean To Burn Crypto?

Ripple USD lives on both Ethereum and the XRP Ledger. Ripple USD would benefit from its ultra-fast and cheap transactions and existing userbase of financial institutions. On Ethereum, RLUSD can power liquidity pools and other DeFi capabilities, get added as a trading pair with other crypto assets on DEXs, etc. 

Ripple USD can open up new DeFi and earning opportunities on ETH for XRP, where DeFi is almost non-existent. For example, the Lending Protocol Euler Finance on Ethereum has integrated Ripple USD. Cardano has also revealed elaborate plans to integrate Ripple USD into its chain.

Ripple USD is a part of the XRP stablecoin ecosystem, which also includes:

• USDC: US dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, enterprise-scale, and DeFi use cases 
• XSGD: Pegged to the Singapore dollar, issued by Straitsx
• EURØP: Euro-denominated stablecoin, issued by Schuman Financial
• USDB: Backed by US and Brazilian bonds, issued by the Braza Group 

USDC’s integration on XRP will complement Ripple USD’s growth as RLUSD users would be exchanging value from one to the other often. The other stablecoins will reduce dependence on USD-pegged stablecoins and shared liquidity in the regulated stablecoin sphere will benefit RLUSD.

For CFOs and treasury managers, the real value isn’t just in fast settlement but in capital efficiency, granular control, and auditability.

RLUSD lets companies hold stable reserves on-chain, instantly deployable for supplier payments, payroll, or cross-border settlements without relying on intermediaries or traditional banking hours.

What most overlook is how RLUSD enables programmable liquidity segmentation. A company can divide its on-chain RLUSD into wallets dedicated to different functions like vendor accounts, tax reserves, and contingency funds, and even automate disbursements via smart contracts with time locks, performance conditions, or approval logic.

For payroll, especially in distributed or remote teams, RLUSD provides a borderless, frictionless mechanism to pay global employees in real-time, getting rid of the FX slippage and delays.

RLUSD can act as a neutral interoperability layer between siloed banking systems and emerging CBDC infrastructures.

While most focus on its stable, dollar-backed nature, the deeper value lies in its architecture. Ripple’s global compliance footprint, multi-chain compatibility, and enterprise-grade design make RLUSD a sandbox-ready instrument for banks experimenting with tokenized money flows.

In interbank transfers, RLUSD serves as a real-time settlement asset that eliminates the need for nostro/vostro accounts and reduces liquidity lock-up, particularly in cross-border corridors.

Importantly, RLUSD, by being blockchain-native yet regulated, can act as a middleware layer between legacy core banking rails and next-gen CBDC platforms. RLUSD offers a credible, already-operational alternative to test CBDC interoperability.

RLUSD is well-suited for markets burdened by payment delays, chargebacks, and FX conversion layers. Thanks to its low-cost, real-time settlement on the XRP Ledger, merchants can bypass legacy acquirers, settle in stable USD value, and access funds almost instantly.

With programmable settlement logic, merchants can automate vendor payouts, tax segregation, refunds, and even escrow releases via smart contracts.

Reconciliation latency is a silent killer in global e-commerce. With each transaction traceable on-chain and tied to metadata (e.g., order ID, SKU, region), RLUSD streamlines ERP integrations and inventory-finance workflows.

For cross-border sellers, especially in high-growth corridors like LATAM or Southeast Asia, RLUSD avoids the inefficiencies of multi-currency clearing while maintaining local payment interoperability through on-ramp/off-ramp partners, like Transak.

XRPL, Ripple’s native ledger, supports permissioned domains and multi-purpose tokens for regulated asset issuance and use cases involving multi-currency transactions. With Ripple USD, RWA protocols will be able to seamlessly mint tokenized assets on XRPL.  

Recently, Ondo Finance’s short-term US Treasuries fund, OUSG, went live on XRPL. Minting and redemptions of the OUSG fund would take place through Ripple USD. Financial institutions on XRP would be able to have on-demand access to the OUSG fund. 

Some experts predicted the death of XRP when Ripple announced the launch of its stablecoin. But that’s not the case. In fact. XRP and RLUSD complement each other. XRP serves as the bridging currency between different currencies, and Ripple USD is suitable for dollar-to-dollar transactions. 

For example, if someone in Japan wants to send money to someone in Europe, the transaction would involve both Yen and euros. Instead of that, the person in Japan can send the money in XRP, which the receiver can convert into euros. 

In the case of Ripple USD, if two persons are dealing in dollars, they can simply send RLUSD to each other. 

Here’s a quick comparison table on RLUSD vs USDT vs USDC: 

	RLUSD	USDT	USDC
Issuing Authority	Ripple	Tether	Circle
Issuing Year	2024	2014	2018
Market Cap (at the time of writing)	$415M	$155B	$69B
Focus use case	Cross-border, enterprise, and institutional payments	Retail payments, trading, DeFi	Institutional and enterprise payments, trading, DeFi
Supported Chains	XRP and Ethereum	Algorand Bitcoin EOS Solana Tron Avalanche Tron Kava Ethereum Tezos	Algorand Hedera Avalanche SUI Solana ZKSync Stellar Polygon POS Polkadot OP Mainnet Noble Near Ethereum Celo Base
Compliance	Compliant with the US’s NYDFS, Dubai’s DFSA	Relatively less focus on compliance	Compliant with US Laws
Reserve Backing	Cash and short-term US Treasuries, other assets	Cash, Bitcoin, corporate bonds, precious metals, etc.	Cash and short-term US Treasuries
Sources of Income	Treasury yields and tokenized assets	Treasury yields and investments	Treasury yields

RLUSD delivers over other stables in terms of compliance, ready-made users on XRP, and diverse income streams and use cases. However, RLUSD is still a very new stablecoin in the industry.

In the future, RLUSD would act as the safe entry point for institutions new to crypto assets and XRP’s existing clientele, which it has been delivering breakthrough blockchain solutions for over a decade. Informed traders and investors would prefer compliant tokens, and RLUSD would emerge as the top choice. 

As Ripple USD gains momentum in DeFi and RWA circles, there will be massive inflows incoming for RLUSD, making the ‘$2 trillion market cap by 2028’ projection closer to reality.

Also Read: Stablecoins Set to Surge Toward $2T?

No, RLUSD is a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar; XRP is Ripple’s native cryptocurrency used for cross-currency transfers.

Yes, RLUSD can be bought on supported exchanges and fiat on-ramps like Transak.

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Yes, RLUSD is available for purchase via Transak. Buy RLUSD directly into your wallet after a quick and easy KYC verification.

Currently, RLUSD is not designed for staking and does not offer native staking rewards.

Also Read: Passive Income With Stablecoins: What Are Yield-Bearing Stablecoins?

Every RLUSD transaction on the XRP Ledger incurs a small fee in XRP, which is permanently burned.

No, RLUSD and XRP serve different purposes and are designed to complement each other. RLUSD is a stablecoin whereas XRP is the native coin of XRL Ledger.

RLUSD drives more transaction volume on the XRP Ledger, leading to more XRP burn and ecosystem activity.

Yes, you can buy Ripple USD (RLUSD) on Uphold.

No, you can’t buy Ripple USD (RLUSD) on Robinhood (at the time of writing).

Yes, you can buy Ripple USD (RLUSD) on Binance.

You can buy Ripple USD (RLUSD) directly into your Coinbase Wallet through Transak. Note that you can only buy RLUSD on the Ethereum network in the case of Coinbase Wallet because the wallet does not support XRP Ledger yet.

Yes, you can buy Ripple USD (RLUSD) on Kraken.

Yes, you can buy Ripple USD (RLUSD) on Kraken.

Yes, you can buy Ripple USD (RLUSD) on Kraken.

As RLUSD is a popular stablecoin, many top exchanges have listed it or will list in the near future. Transak is a user-friendly avenue to buy RLUSD globally using familiar payment methods like Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, and Apple Pay.

No, RLUSD (Ripply USD) will not go up because it is a stablecoin pegged to the US Dollar. So, 1 RLUSD is designed to always be equal to 1 USD.