Ripple’s Stablecoin Capitalisation Surpasses $500 Million

The stablecoin RLUSD, issued by Ripple, has reached a capitalisation of over $500 million in seven months.

According to CoinGecko, the asset ranks among the top twenty dollar-pegged coins with a daily trading volume of $36.6 million. 

Additionally, Ripple has announced a partnership with Bank of New York Mellon to hold US cash and treasury bills backing RLUSD. The bank is one of the largest custodians, managing approximately $52 trillion. BNY began serving institutional crypto clients in 2022 and launched a dedicated digital assets division in 2021.

The growth of RLUSD coincides with Ripple’s application for a banking licence in the US. Obtaining this licence would allow the company to directly hold customer deposits and issue the stablecoin under the same regulations that apply to federally supervised banks.

Optimism about the regulator’s forthcoming decision is bolstered by a recent move by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which in May permitted banks to offer services related to digital assets. 

Overall, the dollar-pegged stablecoin sector is also showing positive momentum. Their combined market value is nearly $250 billion, accounting for over 95% of the total stablecoin market. 

RLUSD underwent beta testing in August 2024. In December, the New York Department of Financial Services approved it for trading. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse positions the asset as the “gold standard for the corporate sector,” suitable for payments, RWA, and DeFi.

At the time of writing, RLUSD is trading at $0.9999, according to CoinGecko.

In January, Ripple partnered with the decentralised oracle network Chainlink to accelerate RLUSD’s integration into the DeFi sector.