Ripple, the blockchain company focused on payments and related to the XRP Ledger (XRP), is launching its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin to Ethereum layer-2 (L2) blockchains such as Optimism, Coinbase’s Base, Kraken’s Ink, and Uniswap’s Unichain to deepen its integration into the multichain ecosystem.
The announcement made on Monday revealed the start of a testing phase, with broader implementation anticipated for next year, contingent upon regulatory approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
This pilot project incorporates Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers (NTT) standard, enabling RLUSD to transfer natively across blockchains without the need for wrapping or synthetic assets. This ensures liquidity and regulatory compliance while facilitating various decentralized finance (DeFi) applications across networks that prioritize speed and cost-efficiency.
Stablecoins are rapidly emerging as a crucial element in digital finance, bridging traditional finance and the cryptocurrency sector. They constitute a $300 billion category of cryptocurrencies, with values fixed to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar.
Initially accessible on Ethereum and the XRP Ledger networks, RLUSD is issued under a NYDFS Trust Charter. Ripple received initial approval for a federal trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) last week, marking RLUSD as the first stablecoin under both state and federal regulatory oversight.
“Stablecoins serve as a gateway to DeFi and institutional acceptance,” stated Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple. “By launching RLUSD — the first U.S. Trust Regulated stablecoin on these L2 networks — we are not only expanding its utility; we are establishing a clear standard where compliance and on-chain efficiency intersect.”
The launch also facilitates a wrapped version of the XRP token (wXRP), allowing holders to utilize XRP in conjunction with RLUSD for swaps, lending, and payments across supported networks, as mentioned in the announcement. For instance, a retail cryptocurrency user could soon convert wXRP to RLUSD within a DeFi application on Optimism or Base seamlessly.
