Ripple Advances Its Stablecoin RLUSD

Competing with the giants Tether and Circle, which offer the two most capitalized stablecoins on the market: this is the objective that Brad Garlinghouse

After announcing the launch of its stablecoin in April, Ripple is now starting to test the asset on the Ethereum and XRP Ledger blockchains.

Dubbed Ripple USD (RLUSD), the stablecoin will be gradually integrated into new networks and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, the company announced in a press release on Monday.

RLUSD is currently not available to investors, as the stablecoin is still awaiting regulatory approval. Only individuals and companies participating in the Ripple test can currently use the asset.

“Ripple USD is currently in beta and is being rigorously tested by our corporate partners. This phase is crucial to ensure that the stablecoin meets the highest standards of security, efficiency, and reliability before being widely available and after receiving regulatory approval,” the press release reads.

The stablecoin will be pegged to the dollar and will be backed by a reserve of dollar deposits, short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, and other cash equivalents.

Why a new stablecoin from Ripple?

After focusing primarily on enabling interbank transactions via its XRP token, Ripple now wants to add a stable asset to its bow.

The company, which has a decade of experience in this market segment, ensures that it is well-positioned to stand out in an environment that is already well-established and dominated—by far—by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.

This testing phase comes just a few days after Ripple was ordered to pay a fine of $125 million by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of its famous lawsuit.

While this can be seen as a victory for the regulator, Ripple was nevertheless keen to put the situation into perspective. Indeed, the company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, highlighted the positive point of this chapter, namely that the amount defined by the judge is far from the amount initially planned of $2 billion.

The XRP token price is up 3% over the last 24 hours and the asset is currently trading at $0.59.