Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD goes live – what it means for XRP

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Ripple is finally launching its stablecoin known as RLUSD today after receiving the final regulatory clearance. 

The company announced on 16 December that the stablecoin will be available on the XRP Ledger and on Ethereum to enable scalability and flexibility of use. 

Exchanges that will support the stablecoin initially include Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax, and CoinMENA, with more support expected over the coming weeks.

A major leap for Ripple

Ripple has faced several regulatory challenges over the past few years. The blockchain payment company has been in court since 2020 over allegations that its native token, XRP is a security.

In a landmark judgment in July 2023, XRP was declared not a security, but the judgment has since been appealed by the SEC and a final ruling is expected next year. 

The regulatory clearance to launch a stablecoin is, therefore, a major milestone achieved on the path of progress as far as Ripple’s journey is concerned.

Like major stablecoins like USDT and USDC, each RLUSD is backed by the USD, meaning the stablecoin derives its value from the USD.

RLUSD is expected to see wide adoption and usage across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, UK, and Middle East regions with support from key partners including global exchanges, market makers, and payment providers.

Institutions can use the stablecoin to facilitate cross-border payments, access liquidity for remittances and other uses, bridge fiat and crypto, and provide collateral for trading tokenized real-world assets.

What it means for XRP

RLUSD is an enterprise-grade stablecoin designed primarily for institutional use. This ties in nicely with the use for which XRP is known, namely to provide liquidity for institutions to facilitate cheap and fast cross-border settlements.

With the launch of the stablecoin, XRP will find more favor with investors as hopes of more institutions adopting it is on the increase. 

This could potentially lead to a brighter future for the token which is one of the best performing top ten assets in Q4 2024 already, flipping SOL to become the third largest asset by market cap.