Ripple, Securitize team up to mint RLUSD from BUIDL and VBILL

Ripple announced a partnership with Securitize, the leading platform for tokenized real-world assets. A new smart contract will allow BUIDL token holders to mint RLUSD, Ripple’s native stablecoin. 

Ripple has partnered with Securitize, building a new mechanism to mint the native stablecoin, RLUSD. A new smart contract will allow the holders of BUIDL and VBILL tokens to exchange their assets for RLUSD. The smart contract essentially serves as an off-ramp for the tokens of BlackRock and VanEck, which wrap short-term treasury funds. 

The new smart contract allows BUIDL and VBILL holders to swap the tokens instantly in a 24-hour market. Currently, the tokens are spread to a limited number of wallets and are mostly used as DeFi collateral or reserves. 

Both BUIDL and VBILL have a nominal price of $1 and a limited number of holders. BUIDL is only held by 55 wallets, and VBILL is found on four Ethereum addresses, as the assets are growing more conservatively. However, so far, the tokens had no other selling option, especially for a crypto-native stablecoin.

‘Making RLUSD available as an exchange option for tokenized funds is a natural next step as we continue to bridge traditional finance and crypto,’ said Jack McDonald, SVP of stablecoins at Ripple. 

‘RLUSD is for institutional use, offering regulatory clarity, stability, and real utility. As adoption grows, partnerships with trusted platforms like Securitize are key to unlocking new liquidity and enterprise-grade use cases.’

The announcement arrived soon after Ripple revealed its plans to focus on RWA and stablecoins as its main growth factors, as recently reported by Cryptopolitan. The new move will integrate RLUSD into the Securitize platform, with additional use cases and assets in the future. 

Securutize to expand the influence of the XRP Ledger

Currently, RLUSD exists in its native form on the XRP ledger, as well as in an Ethereum version. The partnership with Securitize will integrate Ripple’s XRP Ledger to expand access and possibly find new use cases for the XRPL ecosystem. 

Despite the early start, Ripple’s infrastructure has lagged behind Ethereum, Solana, and other chains, and has not managed to build a DeFi space. The next chance for Ripple may be the RWA tokenization trend. 

‘Partnering with Ripple to integrate RLUSD into our tokenization infrastructure is a major step forward in automating liquidity for tokenized assets,’ said Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize. 

‘Together, we’re delivering real-time settlement and programmable liquidity across a new class of compliant, on-chain investment products—bringing the full potential of blockchain to institutional finance,’ he said.

RLUSD is still a slow-growing stablecoin, with around $700M in market capitalization. Ripple is still seeking adoption across platforms, both for crypto natives and as a cross-border payment solution. As of September, RLUSD has a relatively low number of daily senders, and lags behind other more active stablecoins. 

Ripple’s asset, XRP, once again dipped under $3. XRP traded at $2.86 following the latest market downturn, which erased the gains of altcoins. 

XRP consolidated around $3, but stalled before breaking to a new price range. The expectations for a hike to $10 did not materialize, as the XRP Ledger still seeks to expand its use cases. 

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