Ripple Eyes More Exchange Listings for RLUSD: Is Coinbase in Sight?

Ripple is ramping up efforts to get its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD, listed on more exchanges, including Coinbase.

In an interview with The Block, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins Jack McDonald discussed the company’s plans. He highlighted Bitstamp’s recent decision to add RLUSD, which is notable as the first XRP Ledger-based token to be approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

“That paves the way for other, particularly NYDFS-regulated entities, to support it,” said McDonald.

However, he noted that onboarding RLUSD to other exchanges poses challenges due to exclusivity agreements some platforms have with particular stablecoins.

“Certain exchanges have very strategic relationships with one stablecoin where, you know, they want a partner and they’ve got an economic relationship,” explained McDonald. “There’s a very well understood relationship between Coinbase and Circle USDC, or you could look at Binance with FDUSD to where they’re kind of more strategic exclusive. And so we’re having all sorts of conversations.”

Besides exclusivity, Ripple must also navigate technical considerations unique to cryptocurrency.

“It’s different than the New York Stock Exchange where basically the plumbing is all the same,” said McDonald, highlighting that exchanges need to integrate blockchain-specific infrastructure to support a token.

Ripple is focusing on market demand and regulatory compliance to drive the growth of RLUSD. The company also intends to expand RLUSD to other networks, aiming to establish the stablecoin as a key player in the digital asset market.

RLUSD is currently listed on a number of exchanges, including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bullish, Independent Reserve, Moonpay, Bitso, and Coinmena.

“They also want to make sure that the volume is worth their while because there is a tech lift and then an ongoing support of doing it right … And they want to make sure that there is demand for it,” said McDonald about exchanges. “I think the stablecoin issuers with the strong institutional support and the robust compliance frameworks will endure this war of attrition.”