Ripple pledges $25M to support the American education system

Today marks the first day of the teachers’ appreciation week. Ripple has announced a $25 million commitment to education nonprofits DonorsChoose and Teach For America as a way of supporting teachers. This funding will equip US classrooms, support critical resources, and facilitate financial literacy initiatives.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said, “Together, we hope to inspire others to do the same, starting with Teacher Appreciation Week and leading into the rest of the year to support students and teachers with the resources they need to build a stronger future for themselves and their communities.”

DonorsChoose and Teach For America will take most of the $25 million grant in Ripple USD (RLUSD), Ripple’s stablecoin backed by the U.S. dollar. This is the first time that this has ever been done. 

Teachers power the future—and we’re proud to support them: https://t.co/yjvoQdBMtj

Starting with Teacher Appreciation Week, Ripple is committing $25M to U.S. classrooms through @DonorsChoose & Teach For America, supporting critical resources and financial literacy initiatives,…

— Ripple (@Ripple) May 5, 2025

Stablecoins are quickly becoming a useful way to send money. According to Chainalysis data, they have become the most popular type of crypto-enabled payment method and have made up more than half of all onchain transaction volume in the past few months. 

Ripple donation is also meant to increase RLUSD user cases

According to DonorsChoose, teachers are going the extra mile for their students’ education, even spending hundreds – sometimes thousands – of dollars out-of-pocket for their classrooms.

A 2024 Gallup survey found that 55% of U.S. parents and adults are unhappy with the quality of K–12 education in the country. This is in line with larger concerns about the lack of funds for education. Therefore, Ripple’s pledge will help close this gap by giving students, teachers, and staff the tools they need to gain confidence again and do well in school. 

Alix Guerrier, CEO of DonorsChoose, said,  “Through their initiatives, Ripple is directly providing teachers with the resources their students need for the best education. Students will not only get their hands on materials that will enhance their learning, but they will also have the tools to help set them on the path to a bright future.”

In addition,  Aneesh Sohoni, CEO of Teach For America, said, “We’re deeply grateful to Ripple for this transformative support […] This funding will expand our Ignite Tutoring Fellows program, drive innovation in our Reinvention Lab, and provide crucial financial assistance to thousands of new corps members during their teacher preparation.”

This is not a first for Ripple. Since 2018, Ripple has given more than $200 million to global projects, and almost 80% of its employees take part in giving and volunteering activities. Ripple has helped hundreds of nonprofits, mission-driven fintechs, and top colleges through its University Blockchain Research Initiative.

However, this is also a strategy to grow the stablecoin that was launched recently. RLUSD is becoming more popular as collateral in both crypto and standard finance markets. NGOs are also looking into how they can use it to make donations.

The stablecoin also works with decentralized finance (DeFi) and can switch between fiat and crypto. This lets businesses settle payments quickly and keep track of their cash flow. 

The stablecoin can be bought on Kraken, LMAX Digital, Bitstamp, and other big exchanges, which lets more regular people and businesses use it. Ripple said that, over time, it wants to make RLUSD an even bigger part of its payment platform.

Meanwhile, Stablecoin has a market cap of over $316 million. Also, the trading volume has gone up by 55% in 24 hours to over $46 million. With growth potential, Ripple is set to integrate it further into its global payments network, which spans 90+ markets.

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