What Is RLUSD? Ripple's Stablecoin Explained

RLUSD (Ripple USD) is a U.S. dollar–backed stablecoin issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, a Ripple subsidiary supervised by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Each token is designed to redeem 1:1 for U.S. dollars against a segregated reserve of cash, short-term Treasuries, and cash equivalents, and it is natively issued on the XRP Ledger, Ethereum, and additional networks listed in Ripple's documentation.

This Learning Center guide explains what RLUSD is, how minting and redemption work, how its reserves and regulation compare with larger dollar stablecoins, and where institutions typically use it. Facts below are dated as of October 20, 2026.

Key Takeaways

• RLUSD is Ripple's NYDFS-supervised USD stablecoin, separate from XRP.
• DefiLlama shows about $2.41B circulating as of October 20, 2026.
• Reserves sit with BNY as primary custodian; monthly CPA attestations apply.
• Native issuance spans XRPL, Ethereum, Base, Optimism, Ink, Unichain, and XRPL EVM.
• Institutions mint or redeem via Ripple Mint; retail usually buys on exchanges.

What Is RLUSD?

In plain terms, what is RLUSD? It is Ripple's regulated dollar stablecoin: a blockchain token that aims to hold $1.00 while moving at network speed. According to Ripple's RLUSD product page, each RLUSD is supported one-to-one by cash deposits, U.S. Treasuries, and cash equivalents, and is redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars where eligibility rules allow.

Ripple's RLUSD documentation names Standard Custody and Trust Company, LLC (SCTC) and other regulated Ripple subsidiaries as the issuers and distributors. Direct customers are limited to enterprise institutions that meet bank-level Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering requirements, with sanctions screening of customers and wallets.

RLUSD launched in December 2024 on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum. It is not XRP. XRP is the native, floating-price asset of the XRP Ledger. RLUSD is a separate, pegged dollar instrument. On XRPL, network fees are still paid in small amounts of XRP; on Ethereum, gas is paid in ETH.

How RLUSD Works: Mint, Transfer, Redeem

The cash cycle has three legs: mint (USD in, RLUSD out), transfer (onchain move), and redeem (RLUSD in, USD out). Ripple documents both the buy and redeem flows in its stablecoin overview.

Minting (buying) RLUSD

Institutional customers deposit USD into a transaction account. Ripple initiates minting against that deposit, moves funds into the RLUSD reserve account, runs a compliance check on the related wallet, and, if the check passes, signs the chain transactions that credit RLUSD to the customer wallet. That is the USD-to-RLUSD exchange path.

Redeeming RLUSD

Redemption is the reverse. The customer sends RLUSD onchain to Ripple's redemption wallet. Ripple monitors that wallet, runs a compliance check, instructs partner banks to settle USD, and moves funds out of the reserve as needed. The customer then sees fiat settlement in their bank account. For a step-by-step institutional walkthrough of the Ripple Mint API surface, see How to Mint and Redeem RLUSD with Ripple Mint.

Transfers and retail access

Once issued, RLUSD moves like any other token on its supported chains. Retail businesses and individuals typically acquire RLUSD through exchanges and preferred on-ramps rather than through Ripple Mint. Ripple maintains a partner list on its product materials; availability depends on jurisdiction.

Reserves, Custody, and Attestations

Reserve design follows NYDFS dollar-stablecoin expectations. Ripple's docs say the reserve includes U.S. Treasury bills with residual maturity of three months or less, government money market funds, overnight reverse repurchase agreements with NYDFS-approved counterparties, and deposits at U.S. state or federally chartered depository institutions. See the RLUSD reserves section and the NYDFS June 8, 2022 Guidance on the Issuance of U.S. Dollar-Backed Stablecoins.

On July 9, 2025, Ripple selected BNY as primary custodian of RLUSD reserves, with transaction banking support for conversions between reserve assets and cash, according to BNY's press release.

Transparency is published on Ripple's RLUSD transparency page. Monthly attestations are performed by an independent U.S.-licensed CPA under AICPA attestation standards, appointed in line with the NYDFS June 8, 2022 guidance. Reports are expected monthly, no more than 30 days after month end. As of October 15, 2026, that page showed $2,405.8 million of RLUSD in circulation against $2,534.5 million of reserve funds, a buffer of about $128.7 million, or roughly 5.3%.

How Big Is RLUSD Today?

As of October 20, 2026, DefiLlama's Ripple USD page attributes about $2.41 billion of RLUSD circulating supply, with roughly $1.45 billion on Ethereum and $0.95 billion on the XRP Ledger. That is down slightly from about $2.52 billion on September 29, 2026, but up from about $1.34 billion at year-end 2025, based on the supply history Stablecoin Insider previously recorded from the same DefiLlama series.

Against the wider dollar stablecoin market tracked on DefiLlama's stablecoins dashboard, RLUSD remains far smaller than USDT and USDC. It competes on regulatory packaging and institutional distribution more than on absolute scale. For market context across issuers, see Largest Stablecoins.

Source lines above link to the primary pages. Supply figures are rounded.

Which Chains Support RLUSD?

Ripple's current RLUSD docs list native availability on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), Ethereum, Base, Ink, Optimism, Unichain, and the XRPL EVM sidechain. Product marketing still emphasizes XRPL and Ethereum as the core issuance venues; DefiLlama's circulating split above is dominated by those two.

Multichain distribution for issuers often uses bridge standards such as Wormhole Native Token Transfers so the same token can move without synthetic wrappers. When you compare bridge paths for stablecoins more generally, see Best Crypto Cross-Chain Bridges for 2026.

Regulation: NYDFS, OCC, ADGM, and GENIUS

NYDFS: RLUSD is issued through a limited purpose trust company chartered and supervised by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Ripple's transparency materials state that Standard Custody must keep the coin fully backed by highly liquid, short-term, transparent reserves under that oversight. The June 8, 2022 NYDFS industry letter is the detailed baseline for redeemability, reserve custody, and monthly CPA attestations.

OCC: on December 12, 2025, the OCC granted preliminary conditional approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, according to Ripple's announcement and contemporary reporting from CoinDesk. Conditional approval is not final authorization to open. Ripple still must meet preopening conditions before the national trust bank can commence business.

ADGM: on November 27, 2025, Abu Dhabi's Financial Services Regulatory Authority recognized RLUSD as an Accepted Fiat-Referenced Token for use by FSRA-authorized firms in ADGM, per Ripple's ADGM press release.

Federal statute: the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins), enacted as Public Law 119-27 in 2025, set the U.S. federal payment-stablecoin framework that issuers now operate under. The enacted text is available on GovInfo.

October 2026 Update: New Bank, Broker and Wallet Integrations

RLUSD picked up three institutional integrations in the week of October 12, 2026. On October 12, Standard Chartered said its institutional custody of RLUSD issued on the XRP Ledger is live through its DIFC branch, regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, and that it is working with Ripple and LMAX Group to make RLUSD eligible collateral under its collateral mirroring model (Ripple press release, Oct 12, 2026). The collateral piece is still planned, not live.

On October 14, 2026, brokerage infrastructure provider DriveWealth said it is integrating Ripple’s stablecoin infrastructure, using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger with Ripple mint and burn, to support settlement in Europe, with plans to expand to the US (Ripple press release, Oct 14, 2026).

Taken together, these deals matter more for RLUSD’s positioning than its supply number: a global bank custodian, a broker settlement rail and the existing BNY reserve custody all point at the same institutional buyer. Supply was roughly flat over the period at about $2.41 billion on October 20, 2026 (DefiLlama).

RLUSD vs USDC vs USDT: Comparison

The table below is a product comparison for treasury and payments teams, not investment advice. Peg mechanics for fiat-backed coins are covered in How Do Stablecoins Work and the category primer What Is a Stablecoin.

Examples: Who Uses RLUSD and How

Payment service providers use RLUSD as a compliance-oriented dollar leg for cross-border payouts when counterparties already sit in Ripple's network. Remittance firms use it for near-instant settlement between fiat on-ramps and off-ramps. Centralized exchanges list RLUSD as a trading pair so desks can park dollars onchain without leaving the venue.

A concrete institutional path: an onboarded enterprise deposits USD, mints RLUSD through Ripple Mint onto Ethereum or XRPL, pays a supplier onchain, and the supplier either holds RLUSD or redeems to bank USD. A concrete retail path: a user buys RLUSD on a supported exchange, transfers it to a self-custody wallet that supports the chain, and later sells back to fiat through the same or another venue. Those paths are not equivalent in redemption rights.

RLUSD Is Not XRP

This confusion still drives search traffic. XRP is a floating-price bridge and fee asset on the XRP Ledger. RLUSD is a dollar stablecoin. Holding RLUSD does not give you XRP exposure, and holding XRP does not give you a dollar peg. On XRPL, sending RLUSD still requires a trust line to the issuer and a small XRP fee, the same pattern as other issued tokens on that ledger.

How to Mint and Redeem RLUSD with Ripple Mint (2026)

Mint and redeem RLUSD with Ripple Mint: Admin credentials, OAuth token, ISSUANCE and REDEMPTION flows, Flexible redemption approve, and webhooks (July 2026).

Stablecoin Insider

Risks and Limits to Know Before You Rely on RLUSD

Issuer and custody risk remain. A fiat-backed stablecoin is only as good as the legal claim, the reserve process, and the banks that hold cash and Treasuries. BNY custody and monthly CPA attestations reduce opacity relative to opaque offshore structures, but they do not eliminate counterparty or operational risk.

Regulatory status can change. NYDFS guidance, OCC conditional approvals, ADGM recognition, and the GENIUS Act framework all evolve. Conditional OCC approval is not a live national trust bank. If preopening conditions slip, the dual-layer oversight story for RLUSD is incomplete.

Liquidity risk is real at this size. At about $2.52 billion of circulating supply on DefiLlama, RLUSD can gap or widen spreads on thinner venues, especially outside Ethereum and XRPL. Always check local depth before routing large payments.

Access risk differs by user type. Institutions with Ripple Mint credentials can aim for 1:1 mint and redeem against USD. Retail holders usually depend on exchange order books. Those are different products dressed in the same ticker.

Who This Guide Is For

Use this page if you are a payments, treasury, or compliance lead evaluating whether RLUSD belongs in a settlement stack beside USDC or USDT. Use it if you are mapping XRPL or Ripple Payments flows and need a dollar leg that matches NYDFS packaging. Skip it if you want a yield-bearing token, a retail trading thesis on XRP, or a deep dive into mint API payloads (go to the Ripple Mint how-to for that).

FAQ: What Is RLUSD?

This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice; no material herein should be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument, and readers should conduct their own independent research or consult a qualified professional.

Last updated: October 20, 2026. This page merges and replaces the prior bank-grade RLUSD overview that lived at /rlusd-bank-stablecoin-2026/.