What is RLUSD? Ripple's stablecoin explained
RLUSD is Ripple's dollar stablecoin, issued by a New York-regulated trust company on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, and it's a separate token from XRP.
RLUSD, or Ripple USD, is a stablecoin designed to hold $1, issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, a Ripple subsidiary regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. It launched in December 2024 and had about $2.4 billion in circulation on 23 September 2026, according to DefiLlama. Each token is backed by US dollar deposits, short-term Treasuries and cash equivalents.
RLUSD vs XRP
The two are often confused, and they do different jobs. XRP is the native asset of the XRP Ledger, with a price that moves freely. RLUSD is pegged to the US dollar and backed by reserves, with no link to XRP's price. On the XRP Ledger, sending RLUSD costs a tiny network fee paid in XRP, and an account needs a trust line to hold it, the same as any issued token on the ledger.
How RLUSD works
- Issuer: Standard Custody & Trust Company, LLC, which Ripple acquired in 2024. NYDFS approved RLUSD in December 2024 (Ripple)
- Reserves: US dollar deposits, short-term US Treasuries and cash equivalents, held 1:1, with BNY Mellon as primary custodian
- Reporting: monthly attestations by an independent accounting firm. Ripple's transparency page showed $2.52 billion of reserves against $2.40 billion in circulation on 3 September 2026
- Federal charter: the OCC granted conditional approval for Ripple National Trust Bank in December 2025, planned to manage the RLUSD reserve
Where RLUSD lives
Chain | RLUSD supply, 23 Sep 2026 |
Ethereum | $1.31 billion |
XRP Ledger | $1.06 billion |
Source: DefiLlama. Ripple's token address list also shows deployments on Base, Optimism, Ink, Unichain and the XRPL EVM sidechain.
What RLUSD is used for
- Payments: Ripple uses RLUSD in Ripple Payments for cross-border settlement between businesses
- Trading: it's listed on exchanges including Uphold, Bitso, Kraken and Binance
- DeFi: on Ethereum it's used in Aave, Curve and Morpho lending markets. One Morpho market lends RLUSD against FXRP, Flare's wrapped XRP, which let XRP holders borrow dollars without selling (our FXRP explainer covers it)
Earning yield on RLUSD
RLUSD pays holders nothing, and returns come from lending or liquidity. On 23 September 2026, per DefiLlama:
Where | Rate | Source of the return |
Aave v3 Core, Ethereum | 2.92% | Borrower interest |
Aave Horizon, Ethereum | 4.98% | 1.78% borrower interest plus 3.20% in rewards |
Curve USDC-RLUSD pool | 4.86% | 0.30% trading fees plus 4.56% in rewards |
Rewards-funded portions end when the programmes do. Upshift's Sentora USD vault on Ethereum, curated by Sentora, takes RLUSD deposits alongside USDC, USDT and PYUSD, and redeems in USDC. It held about $74 million on 23 September 2026, and current rates are on the vault page.
How RLUSD compares with other stablecoins
Stablecoin | Issuer | Regulation | Supply, 23 Sep 2026 | Backing | Main chains |
Tether | No US regulator; HQ in El Salvador | $183B | Mostly Treasuries, plus gold, bitcoin and loans | Tron, Ethereum | |
Circle | OCC national trust charter; MiCA | $75B | Cash and a government money market fund | Ethereum, Solana | |
Ethena | Not a regulated payment stablecoin | $4.9B | Stablecoins plus crypto hedged with short futures | Ethereum | |
World Liberty Financial, with BitGo | OCC trust charter (conditional) | $4.4B | Cash and government money market funds | Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana | |
Paxos | MAS (Singapore); MiCA via Finland | $3.2B | Cash and cash equivalents | X Layer, Robinhood Chain, Solana | |
Paxos, for PayPal | OCC national trust charter | $2.8B | Dollar deposits, Treasuries and cash equivalents | Ethereum, Solana | |
RLUSD | Ripple (Standard Custody) | NYDFS trust charter | $2.4B | Dollar deposits, Treasuries and cash equivalents | Ethereum, XRP Ledger |
Supply figures from DefiLlama. None of these issuers pays holders interest directly; returns come from lending, platform rewards or, for USDe, staking into sUSDe. The two largest are compared in depth in our USDC vs USDT guide.
Risks
- Issuer: RLUSD depends on Standard Custody holding and redeeming the reserves
- Regulatory: the federal trust bank approval is conditional, and US stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act are still being written
- Liquidity: at $2.4 billion, RLUSD trades less deeply than USDC or USDT
- DeFi: lending markets and vaults add smart contract and strategy risk. Upshift's contracts have had 10 smart contract audits by 6 independent firms
Always make sure to do your own research and be aware of the above and any other risks before depositing.
Frequently asked questions
Is XRP a stablecoin?
No. XRP's price floats. RLUSD is Ripple's separate stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar.
Does RLUSD need XRP?
Only for network fees on the XRP Ledger, which are paid in small amounts of XRP. On Ethereum, fees are paid in ETH.
What is the purpose of RLUSD?
Cross-border payments through Ripple Payments, trading, and use as a dollar asset in DeFi on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.
Who issues RLUSD and is it regulated?
Standard Custody & Trust Company, a Ripple subsidiary with a New York trust charter supervised by NYDFS.
How do you buy RLUSD?
On exchanges that list it, such as Uphold, Bitso, Kraken and Binance, or by swapping on the XRP Ledger's built-in exchange.
Can you earn yield on RLUSD?
Yes, by lending it on markets like Aave, providing liquidity on Curve, or depositing into a vault that accepts it. Rates are variable.
Keep reading
- What FXRP is and how it works on Flare. XRP as a DeFi asset.
- Can you stake XRP? What XRP staking products really do.
- USDC vs USDT in 2026. How the two largest stablecoins compare.
- Where USDC yield comes from. Rates and risks by venue.
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