From XRP to RLUSD: How Ripple Is Building a Stablecoin Empire for Institutional Finance

TLDR

• Ripple has upgraded its Ripple Payments platform into a full-stack stablecoin infrastructure for banks and fintechs across 60+ markets
• The platform now covers collection, custody, conversion and payout in one integration, using acquisitions Palisade and Rail
• Ripple Payments has processed over $100 billion in total transaction volume to date
• RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, has reached a circulating supply of $1.5 billion
• Ripple’s chief legal officer attended a White House meeting in February to discuss stablecoin regulation legislation

Ripple has expanded its payments platform, Ripple Payments, into a full-stack infrastructure system for financial institutions wanting to move money using stablecoins.

The San Francisco-based company announced the upgrade on Tuesday. It lets businesses collect, hold, convert and pay out in both traditional currencies and stablecoins through a single provider.

Before this update, a company doing cross-border payments might need separate vendors for custody, foreign exchange, stablecoin liquidity and local payout rails. Ripple is now offering all of that under one integration.

The new features are powered by two recent acquisitions. Palisade handles custody and treasury automation, allowing businesses to provision wallets and move funds into operational accounts. Rail, which Ripple acquired in August 2024 for $200 million, enables businesses to accept fiat and stablecoin payments through virtual accounts with automated conversion.

Ripple Payments is now live in more than 60 markets. The company named Switzerland’s AMINA Bank, Brazil’s Banco Genial, Malaysia’s ECIB and Philippines-based AltPayNet as participants in the network.

The platform has processed more than $100 billion in total volume. Global stablecoin transaction volumes reached $33 trillion last year, with stablecoins accounting for 30% of all onchain transaction volume.

RLUSD Supply Hits $1.5 Billion

Ripple’s own stablecoin, RLUSD, has a circulating supply of around $1.5 billion. It remains a small share of the overall stablecoin market but has been growing steadily.

Ripple is valued at $17.7 billion based on pre-IPO share data from Forge Global. The company is privately held and has not announced any IPO plans.

In December, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved a national trust bank charter for Ripple’s planned Ripple National Trust Bank. Similar approvals went to Circle, BitGo, Paxos Trust Company and Fidelity Digital Assets.

If finalized, the charters would let these companies manage assets and stablecoin reserves under federal oversight. They would not allow deposit-taking or lending like traditional banks.

Ripple Involved in Washington Stablecoin Talks

Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, attended a White House meeting in February alongside other crypto and banking representatives. The meeting focused on stablecoin provisions in a proposed US crypto market structure bill.

XRP has been down roughly 5% over the past week, according to CoinDesk market data, in line with broader market weakness. The payments business operates independently from the token’s price.

The platform expansion puts Ripple in more direct competition with legacy payment providers that currently handle cross-border transactions for global banks and fintechs.

The post From XRP to RLUSD: How Ripple Is Building a Stablecoin Empire for Institutional Finance appeared first on CoinCentral.