Ripple’s upcoming stablecoin, RLUSD, will leverage its strong position in the payments industry and serve as a key bridge for tokenizing real-world assets, according to Ripple Labs President Monica Long in an interview with CoinDesk. Ripple has partnered with exchanges and market makers for the launch of RLUSD, which is “operationally ready” but awaiting regulatory approval from the New York Department of Financial Services.
At the Ripple Swell 2024 conference in Miami, Ripple announced partnerships with exchanges such as Bitstamp, Bitso, Bullish, and others for RLUSD distribution, while trading firms Keyrock and B2C2 will act as market makers. Ripple has also added former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair and former Centre CEO David Puth to its advisory board for the stablecoin project.
Ripple aims to position RLUSD as a key player in the $170 billion stablecoin market, particularly for cross-border payments and real-world asset tokenization. Long emphasized the utility of stablecoins for payments and the broader trend of tokenizing assets like securities, real estate, and bonds. RLUSD will be backed by short-term U.S. Treasuries, dollar deposits, and cash equivalents, and will operate on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum networks. Monthly attestations of its reserves will be provided by accounting firm BPM.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse previously indicated that RLUSD could be launched within “weeks, not months.”
