Within days, Ripple got a U.S. bank charter, a Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) rating, and deals with Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD), and BNY (NYSE: BK).
RLUSD, its stablecoin, has under 1% of the market. Even so, Ripple now has approvals and partners that USDT and USDC took years to earn.
How is Ripple RLUSD competing with USDT and USDC?
It started on Monday. Earlier reporting by Cryptopolitan says that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a U.S. bank regulator, gave final approval to Ripple National Trust Bank. The new bank will oversee the reserves behind RLUSD and act as collateral trustee for holders. Issuing the token stays with Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s subsidiary regulated in New York.
On Tuesday, Ripple held its Swell conference in New York. There, it announced a partnership with Robinhood and a bigger custody deal with BNY. Custody means BNY holds assets safely on Ripple’s behalf.
That same day, Moody’s gave RLUSD an A2 long-term deposit rating and a P-1 short-term rating. A2 is the sixth-highest long-term grade on the Moody’s scale. P-1 is the top short-term grade.
The agency pointed to RLUSD’s reserves, which are held mostly in Treasury bills, short-term government debt, and cash. Most of it sits with BNY. Ripple aims to keep reserves at 103% of the tokens in circulation. Moody’s also said eligible institutional holders can cash out at face value within two business days.
Moody’s also named some weak spots, such as the fact that its standard custody is not “bankruptcy-remote,” which means the reserves are not walled off if the company fails.
For now, RLUSD holders have no direct claim on those reserves. Moody’s noted that the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin law set to take effect in 2027, would change this as it would separate required reserves from an issuer’s bankruptcy estate.
On Wednesday, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) announced it will list RLUSD. Users can trade and manage it on Coinbase Prime, Coinbase Exchange and the Coinbase Retail app. Dollars and other dollar stablecoins can be swapped for RLUSD 1:1.
Coinbase’s global exchange will add support later, and users will be able to use RLUSD as collateral there. The token can be deposited and withdrawn on the XRP Ledger, Base and Ethereum. Ripple will provide liquidity on Base
Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, said the deal with Coinbase will bring the RLUSD stablecoin to “the largest institutional client base in the U.S. crypto market.” The deal would widen RLUSD’s reach across spot trading, derivatives, prime brokerage, and decentralized finance (DeFi).
RLUSD is now live on Robinhood Chain and on Bitstamp by Robinhood. Ripple has said that a listing in the main Robinhood app is expected later this year. Meanwhile, Bitstamp will settle institutional trades in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger. Robinhood will also run its own cash and liquidity operations on Ripple Treasury.
Can RLUSD win a bigger share of the stablecoin market?
RLUSD launched in December 2024 and now has about $2.6 billion in circulation. That is roughly 0.8% of a stablecoin market valued at more than $300 billion. Around 82% of the $300 billion market is controlled by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s (NYSE: CRCL) USDC.
Robinhood is a founding backer of USDG, a stablecoin issued by Paxos. It also shares in the revenue that USDG earns. USDG supply is reportedly at $3.056 billion, compared with $2.599 billion for RLUSD. Of that USDG, $691.4 million is already on Robinhood Chain.
Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) has 28.6 million funded customers, which could all be exposed to RLUSD if it lands in the main app. However, that listing is only expected later this year, and nothing is confirmed yet.
Until the GENIUS Act takes effect in 2027, RLUSD holders have no direct ownership claim on the reserves. Notably, Ripple applied to a Federal Reserve master account along with its charter. It would let Ripple hold RLUSD reserves directly at the Fed, the U.S. central bank. The application is still pending.
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