Ripple's New Stablecoin RLUSD to Launch on December 17

Ripple's much anticipated U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD, is set to launch on December 17.

"RLUSD will be available on global exchanges starting tomorrow," Ripple stated in a Monday announcement. "Each RLUSD token is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. government bonds, and cash equivalents."

An independent auditing firm will create monthly attestations of RLUSD’s reserve assets to ensure transparency, Ripple added.

Ripple enters the competitive stablecoin market, which counts Tether, Circle, and Ethena among its players. Traditional fintech company PayPal has also launched a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Tether remains the market leader with a supply exceeding $140 billion.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse mentioned, "Early on, Ripple made a deliberate choice to launch our stablecoin under the NYDFS limited purpose trust company charter, widely regarded as the premier regulatory standard worldwide. As the U.S. moves toward clearer regulations, we expect to see greater adoption of stablecoins like RLUSD."

Last week, Ripple received final approval for RLUSD from the New York State Department of Financial Services.

According to Ripple, RLUSD will be utilized for transactions by Ripple Payments for its enterprise customers by early next year. "Ripple Payments has served $70 billion in payments volume," the statement said.

Initially available on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, Ripple plans to expand RLUSD to additional blockchains and decentralized finance protocols over time.

The stablecoin will first launch on Uphold, MoonPay, Archax, and CoinMENA, with plans for listings on platforms like Bitso, Bullish, Bitstamp, Mercado Bitcoin, Independent Reserve, Zero Hash and others expected soon.

“RLUSD is poised to play a significant role in the evolution of digital payments, enterprise finance, and beyond, and we are proud to be among the initial launch partners of Ripple’s first-ever stablecoin solution,” said Uphold CEO Simon McLoughlin in a statement to The Block.