Ripple Stablecoin RLUSD Gets NYDFS Approval for Launch

Ripple Labs has secured approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for its RLUSD stablecoin. 

CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed the development on December 10, adding that the company will soon disclose exchange and partner listings for the asset.

Ripple Stablecoin To Challenge Tether and Circle’s Dominance

Ripple first announced plans for RLUSD in April, positioning it as a competitor to Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. By August, Ripple began testing the stablecoin on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum mainnets. 

In October, the company revealed partnerships with major exchanges, including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, Independent Reserve, CoinMENA, and Bullish. Ripple executives have projected RLUSD could achieve a market capitalization of $2 trillion by 2028.

“This just in…we have final approval from NYDFS for RLUSD! Exchange and partner listings will be live soon – and reminder: when RLUSD is live, you’ll hear it from Ripple first,” Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 

BeInCrypto reported earlier that NYDFS was in the process of approving the Ripple stablecoin in the first week of December. However, delays in regulatory checks raised concerns that the approval might not come before Christmas. 

So, today’s approval was a sudden surprise to the market, and XRP’s price has responded accordingly. XRP surged nearly 10% within an hour of the NYDFS announcement. Earlier in the day, the token briefly dipped below $2.

Donald Trump’s re-election in November has driven renewed optimism among the XRP community. Last month, the current SEC chair Gary Gensler announced his resignation, who has been a constant critique of Ripple.

Under Gensler’s direction, Ripple has been enduring a lengthy legal battle with the SEC. However, these regulatory challenges are likely to ease, as Trump recently appointed pro-crypto candidate Paul Atkins. 

Also, Ripple reported significant growth in Q3, fueled by higher transaction volumes on the XRP Ledger and rising institutional interest in its XRP token.

During Q3, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) introduced an XRP reference price, while Bitnomial disclosed plans to launch an XRP futures product. Other financial institutions, including Bitwise, Canary Capital, WisdomTree, and 21Shares, filed applications for XRP ETFs. 

Grayscale also launched an XRP Trust and initiated efforts to convert its Digital Large Cap Fund—comprising BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, and AVAX—into an ETF.