Ripple, an enterprise-focused blockchain service closely related to the XRP Ledger (XRP), said it will start making its highly-anticipated U.S. dollar stablecoin accessible to users on Tuesday, Dec. 17 following the token’s regulatory approval.
RLUSD will be initially listed on several exchanges and crypto platforms including Uphold, MoonPay, Archax and CoinMENA, the company said in a press release, with further listings on Bitso, Bullish, Bitstamp, Mercado Bitcoin and Independent Reserve, Zero Hash and others in the coming weeks.
The company also announced two additions to its stablecoin advisory board: Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and Kenneth Montgomery, former first vice president and COO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The pair join board members announced in October including Sheila Bair, former chair of FDIC, and Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chairman and co-founder of Ripple.
The launch follows Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s announcement last week that RLUSD sealed “final approval” from the New York Department of Financial Services, paving the way for rolling out the stablecoin for the public from its test phase. RLUSD is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. government bonds and cash equivalents and aims to keep a steady price at $1.
With RLUSD, Ripple aims to compete for a piece in the rapidly growing stablecoin market, currently dominated by Tether’s $140 billion USDT and Circle’s $40 billion USDC tokens. Stablecoins are a key piece of infrastructure bridging digital asset markets and traditional finance, serving as liquidity for trading, vehicle for blockchain-based transactions and increasingly as a payment method across borders. Traditional financial institutions such as banks and payment companies including PayPal, Visa and Societe Generale have also entered the stablecoin space as regulators around the world put rules and guidelines in place for the asset class, bringing much-desired regulatory clarity.
“Early on, Ripple made a deliberate choice to launch our stablecoin under the NYDFS limited purpose trust company charter, widely regarded as the premier regulatory standard worldwide,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in a statement. “As the U.S. moves toward clearer regulations, we expect to see greater adoption of stablecoins like RLUSD, which offer real utility and are backed by years of trust and expertise in the industry.”
RLUSD will be initially available in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, UK and Middle East regions via its distribution and exchange partners, Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoin at Ripple, said in an interview with CoinDesk. He was CEO of Standard Custody & Trust, a company acquired by Ripple earlier this year that holds a New York Trust license.
The token won’t be accessible in the E.U. in the beginning as Ripple does not hold the necessary license under the bloc’s MiCAR regulations, but the company is “actively exploring” ways to enter the bloc’s market, he added.
RLUSD volatility warning
RLUSD, which aims to hold a $1 price, may see an unusual price volatility due to early demand from traders and limited supply.
“There may be supply shortages in the very early days before the market stabilizes,” David Schwartz, chief technology officer at Ripple, warned in an X post. He said that some traders “are willing to pay” as much as $1,200 token price to buy a fraction of RLUSD.
“Please don’t FOMO into a stablecoin,” he added. “This is not an opportunity to get rich.”