A regulated, U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin issued for payments, settlement, trading and institutional on-chain finance.
Ripple USD (RLUSD) is Ripple's U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. A stablecoin is a blockchain token designed to track a reference value; RLUSD aims to maintain the value of one U.S. dollar. It is redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars through eligible channels. Ripple states that RLUSD is fully backed by segregated reserves consisting of cash deposits, short-term U.S. Treasury securities and cash equivalents, with monthly third-party attestations covering the reserve assets.
RLUSD is not the same asset as XRP. XRP is the native, market-priced asset of the XRP Ledger and is used for transaction fees and as a bridge asset. RLUSD is an issued token designed to provide dollar-denominated stability for payments, trading, treasury activity and settlement.
Creator: RLUSD was created by Ripple as an enterprise-focused digital dollar for payments and financial settlement. It is issued through a limited-purpose trust company chartered by the New York Department of Financial Services, placing issuance, reserve management and redemption under a regulated company structure rather than an anonymous or decentralized issuance process.
Launch: Ripple announced its plan for the token in 2024. Following approval from the New York Department of Financial Services, public RLUSD availability began on 17 December 2024. It launched natively on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, giving institutions, exchanges and developers access to both an XRPL-issued asset and an ERC-20 version.
Project evolution: RLUSD later expanded to additional EVM-compatible networks and became available through Ripple Mint for eligible institutions to mint, redeem and manage liquidity. Ripple also integrated RLUSD into selected payment and settlement services where regulatory permissions and local availability allow.
Ripple's official token-address documentation lists RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, Ethereum, Base, Ink, Optimism, Unichain and the XRPL EVM Sidechain. On XRPL, RLUSD is an issued currency identified by Ripple's official issuer address. On the EVM-compatible networks, it uses ERC-20-style smart contracts and official proxy addresses published by Ripple.
Each deployment is technically separate, so users must confirm the official issuer or contract address and choose the same network on both sides of a transfer. Network fees are paid with the native gas asset: XRP on XRPL, ETH on Ethereum and the relevant gas asset on other EVM networks. Sending RLUSD through an unsupported network can make funds difficult or impossible to recover.
RLUSD is designed mainly for payments, trading, treasury management and institutional settlement. Its users and potential users include:
Ripple's RLUSD material highlights companies including Keyrock, OpenPayd, OKX US and LMAX Group in connection with liquidity, payments, trading and custody. Availability varies by jurisdiction and provider, and access to Ripple Mint or direct redemption requires eligibility and compliance verification.
RLUSD can be used for near-real-time cross-border settlement, merchant and vendor payouts, treasury transfers, exchange trading pairs and bringing fiat-denominated value onchain. Its dollar reference makes accounting and settlement more predictable than using a volatile asset for the entire payment lifecycle.
It may also be used in compatible decentralized exchanges, automated market makers, lending markets and tokenized-asset applications. Any yield normally comes from a third-party platform or protocol rather than from simply holding RLUSD, and those activities introduce smart-contract, liquidity, counterparty and liquidation risks.
RLUSD follows a centralized issuer model. Eligible institutional customers can use Ripple Mint to purchase newly issued RLUSD, redeem tokens for U.S. dollars and manage liquidity. Ripple states that each token is backed one-for-one by reserve assets held in segregated accounts at depository institutions and securities custodians.
Most individual users obtain or sell RLUSD through supported exchanges, wallets and payment providers rather than directly through Ripple Mint. A secondary-market purchase does not automatically provide the same direct contractual relationship or redemption access as an approved institutional customer.
RLUSD gives the XRP Ledger a native dollar-denominated settlement asset. This can attract users who want XRPL’s fast settlement and low transaction costs but need their payment value to remain stable in U.S. dollar terms. It can support remittances, business payouts, tokenized assets and applications that require predictable accounting.
A credible stablecoin can also deepen activity in the XRP Ledger’s decentralized exchange and automated market maker by providing additional trading pairs and a stable quote asset. Easier movement between dollars, RLUSD, XRP and other issued assets can improve onchain liquidity and make it simpler for developers to build payment, trading and treasury products on XRPL.
RLUSD and XRP are complementary rather than interchangeable. RLUSD offers price stability, while XRP remains the XRP Ledger’s native asset, pays network transaction costs and can bridge liquidity between assets. More RLUSD activity can increase use of XRPL infrastructure and its built-in financial tools, but it does not guarantee an increase in the market price of XRP.
Ripple states that RLUSD is backed by cash deposits, U.S. Treasury securities and cash equivalents held in segregated reserve accounts. Ripple publishes monthly third-party attestation reports intended to verify the assets supporting the amount of RLUSD in circulation.
RLUSD can still temporarily trade above or below one dollar on exchanges. Users also face issuer, reserve, custody, exchange, smart-contract, network, liquidity and regulatory risks. Blockchain transfers are normally irreversible, so the destination address, official token identifier and network should be verified before sending.
The following official resources explain RLUSD’s design, backing, availability, business use cases and technical integration.
Ripple’s official RLUSD product page explains the stablecoin’s dollar backing, supported networks, business use cases, availability and reserve transparency.
Visit Ripple RLUSDRipple’s technical documentation covers RLUSD token information, developer resources and integration guidance for the XRP Ledger, Ethereum and Ripple Mint.
Read RLUSD Docs