Ripple partners with key exchanges for new stablecoin RLUSD launch

Ripple Labs, a San Francisco-based payments company, has announced its initial exchange partners for the upcoming launch of its USD-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD.

The announcement was made today during the opening session of Ripple’s annual conference, Ripple Swell 2024. This is a major step for Ripple’s stablecoin project, which seeks to revolutionize the compliance and usefulness of international transactions.

Today at #RippleSwell, we’re proud to announce our Ripple USD exchange partners.

Upon regulatory approval, $RLUSD will be globally available for institutions and users from @UpholdInc, @BitStamp, @Bitso, @Moonpay, @Indereserve, @CoinMENA, and @Bullish. https://t.co/iZ7L1MHpn3

— Ripple (@Ripple) October 15, 2024

Key exchange partners revealed

Among the named partners, there are large exchanges such as MoonPay, Bitso, Bitstamp, Uphold, Independent Reserve, Bullish, and CoinMENA. These exchanges will grant users and institutions access to RLUSD on condition of approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). 

Ripple’s decision to partner with a variety of global exchanges is anticipated to increase the adoption of stablecoin and its depth. In addition to exchange support, other major market makers, such as Keyrock and B2C2, are also expected to offer their liquidity to RLUSD. 

Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, was optimistic about the stablecoin and said that RLUSD could become the “gold standard” for enterprise-grade stablecoins. The company aims to meet the requirements of the legal framework and is going to respond to the increasing need for secure and reliable cross-border payments.

RLUSD is in the private beta testing phase, deployed on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum, with the stablecoin already minted on both. Even though the private beta has been running for more than two months, Ripple still has not stated the exact date for the mainnet launch.  While speaking at the Korea Blockchain Week event, Garlinghouse hinted that the stablecoin would be launched in a matter of weeks, which means it could be released before the end of 2024.

Ripple forms advisory board with industry veterans

Ripple has also set up an advisory board to help with the market entry of RLUSD. The board of directors includes top managers in the financial industry, such as Chris Larsen, the Chairman of Ripple; David Ruth, the former executive of JPMorgan; and Sheila Bair, the former chair of the FDIC. This advisory team is expected to have a significant responsibility for overseeing the stablecoin’s compliance with the regulations and integration into the world financial system.

It is worth noting that Ripple has been issuing RLUSD tokens on both the XRPL and Ethereum networks in preparation for the mainnet launch. Once NYDFS has given its approval, RLUSD will be launched to the public and institutions through the initial exchange partners.

The stablecoin’s launch comes at the heels of Ripple’s legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which led to a $125 million fine.  However, the legal issues have not seemed to have positively affected Ripple’s updates on RLUSD in the recent past. After the announcement, XRP’s price went up by approximately 1% to $0.5429, and trading volume also increased.