Ripple to begin global rollout of RLUSD stablecoin on Dec. 17

The long awaited Ripple USD will be available on five different platforms, with plans of expansion already revealed for the next weeks.

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Ripple will launch its US dollar-pegged stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), on Dec. 17 on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.

According to the Dec. 16 announcement, each RLUSD token will be fully backed by US dollar deposits, government bonds, and cash equivalents.

The stablecoin will initially be available on Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax, and CoinMENA. In the coming weeks, the firm plans to expand to prominent platforms like Bullish, Bitstamp, and Mercado Bitcoin. 

Additionally, Ripple will provide monthly third-party attestations of RLUSD’s reserves, which will be audited by an independent firm.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the company is launching to launch RLUSD under the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) limited purpose trust company charter. He added: 

“As the US 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.”

Strategic partnerships

The announcement included Ripple’s various partnerships with global exchanges, market makers, and payment providers to position RLUSD for widespread adoption in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the UK, and the Middle East.

However, it did not include any information about the EU, indicating that the stablecoin may not be widely available in the region because of the recent implementation of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation and its impact on stablecoin issuers.

Among the use cases envisioned by Ripple are cross-border payments, liquidity management, integration with DeFi, and tokenized asset trading.  

Furthermore, the company’s enterprise-focused payment platform, Ripple Payments, will integrate RLUSD early next year.

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