Ripple announced a comprehensive strategy for the rollout of its latest product – a stablecoin named RLUSD that will hit the markets soon.

The news was shared during the Ripple Swell conference in Miami and included details on the partnerships that the firm has secured to rapidly raise awareness about the existence, benefits, and characteristics of the new token.

Ripple commented that it has made agreements with prominent crypto exchanges including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, Independent Reserve, CoinMENA, and Bullish to commercialize RLUSD.

 

Moreover, they signed deals with Keyrock and B2C2 to act as market makers for the stablecoin to maintain a decent level of liquidity for the digital asset. In addition, to give the token further credibility, the company has created an Advisory Board that will specifically oversee the commercialization, adoption, and stability of RLUSD.

Former government officials and top executives have been added to the board including the ex-Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Sheila Bar, Ripple’s co-founder, Chris Larsen, and the former Chief Executive Officer of the Centre Consortium, David Puth.

RLUSD Awaits Approval of NYDFS

Ripple has made regulatory compliance a priority for RLUSD and is waiting for the approval of the token by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to attract institutional capital to its stablecoin.

Unlike its rivals USDC and USDT, Ripple’s RLUSD may be included on the institution’s “greenlist”, meaning that it be more strictly overseen by regulators within the United States.

Also read: XRP Crashes 8% as SEC Appeals 2023 Ripple Ruling

Monica Long, president of Ripple, emphasized the importance of compliance in the company’s approach: “In this space, there’s so much potential for innovation, and it’s really, really important that the products can be trusted and that they’re following the same rules that other financial products follow.”

The NYDFS has reportedly issued the most comprehensive guidelines on stablecoin issuance and management including specific rules on how these assets should be redeemed, their composition, and adequate disclosures of their reserves. Obtaining the nod from this reputed institution would be positive to improve the perception that institutional players could have of RLUSD.

Did Elon Musk Publicly Endorse XPR?

During a Town Hall meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Elon Musk commented directly on XRP and its prospects.

One apparent supporter of the project asked the head of Tesla (TSLA): “Do you envision the XRP Ledger being incorporated into financial institutions in the future?”

Musk responded: “I do think that cryptocurrency is an interesting and probably valuable bulwark against centralized control.”

However, he clarified: “this is definitely not an endorsement or lack of endorsement for XRP.”

Despite this detachment, the crypto community still speculated on Musk’s perception of Ripple and its native token XRP with some even arguing that he could be weighing the possibility of enabling crypto payments on X by using RLUSD.

Musk is viewed as a crypto-friendly public figure but his involvement and mentions of XRP are scarce as he has primarily made comments concerning Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH).

Ripple Will Provide Monthly Attestations to Accounting Firm

RLUSD will be available on both the Ripple and Ethereum networks and will maintain a 1:1 parity with the US dollar. Each token will be backed by liquid reserves that may include dollar deposits, US government bonds, and other cash equivalents.

Ripple is aiming to offer a multi-chain token that can be easily accessible and adopted by the crypto community instead of an exclusive token for its closed ecosystem.

The company will submit attestations periodically to the San Francisco-based accounting firm BPM to provide monthly updates on the token’s reserves. Moreover, during the beta phase of the project, RLUSD’s supply will reach at least $60 million. The Ripple Treasury has already minted at least $27 million worth of RLUSD since beta tests began in August.

The Ripple ecosystem’s reach and popularity could help RLUSD thrive despite the significant competition that new stablecoins face from well-established tokens. The company’s payment solutions are reportedly accessible in 90 countries and have facilitated over 37 million transactions valued at nearly $70 billion.

Long described the role of RLUSD as a potential bridge between the traditional and digital financial industries that could allow users to move fiat currencies easily.

“We see RLUSD as more of the on and off ramp from the analog world, or the traditional world, or fiat currency world, where you need some way to get dollars in and out of the digital asset world,” Long told Fortune Magazine last week.

The stablecoin may also be used to tokenize real-world assets (RWA) like real estate, stocks, and bonds as the demand for blockchain-based synthetics continues to increase. Meanwhile, RLUSD’s advisor David Puth emphasized the importance of stablecoins to offer institutional investors a transparent and efficient way to make transactions.

RLUSD Should Be Available in a Few Weeks

Entering and disrupting a market dominated by incumbents like USDT and USDC, whose combined market cap exceeds $170 billion, will not be an easy feat for Ripple. However, the company’s leadership is convinced that they have the right ingredients to offer a successful replacement.

Brad Garlinghouse, the Chief Executive Officer of Ripple, emphasized the strong partnerships that the company has secured with top exchanges along with the token’s robust regulatory compliance as key successful traits of RLUSD that will make it stand out from other available alternatives in the marketplace.

It also appears that the launch of the token is imminent as Garlinghouse said during the Korea Blockchain Week that RLUSD will be available in “weeks, not months.” This confirmation comes just days after Long said the token was “operationally ready” and waiting for the NYDFS’s clearance to hit the trading desks.

Also read: Where and How To Buy XRP – Top Platforms Reviewed

Meanwhile, the former head of the FDIC said that RLUSD could play a pivotal role in modernizing the world’s financial infrastructure while fostering financial inclusion as the digital economy continues to evolve.

This perception aligns with Ripple’s strategy of positioning RLUSD not just as another stablecoin but as a fundamental building block for the future of digital finance.

The success of RLUSD will likely depend on how institutional players embrace it and how Ripple manages to promote the token’s use cases. An extensive partnership network, its focus on positioning as an enterprise-grade option, and higher compliance standards may provide an edge to RLUSD that its rivals could find hard to match.