Over $100 million in Ripple USD (RLUSD) has been issued since April 1, among the highest levels in recent months, as demand for the relatively new stablecoin heats up.
A $50 million tranche of RLUSD was issued earlier this week on Tuesday, with another $50 million late Wednesday. That came as Ripple added the stablecoin to its official payments product, with payment providers BKK Forex and iSend already said to be using the stablecoin.
Industry leaders expect RLUSD to further shift crypto market dynamics, where upstarts tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) could see competition from Ripple’s product.
XRP Ledger-based decentralized financial (DeFi) applications could be a cohort to watch for as RLUSD gains traction on various platforms, boosting XRP token demand.
RLUSD is a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, offered on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchain. It is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. Treasuries, and cash equivalents.
To maintain its peg, RLUSD relies on a 1:1 reserve system—each token matches an equivalent fiat value.
Users can mint RLUSD by depositing dollars with authorized partners, who issue tokens, or burn RLUSD to redeem cash. Market arbitrage helps stabilize its price: if RLUSD trades below $1, traders buy it to redeem at par, raising demand; if above $1, they mint more, increasing supply.
Security features make RLUSD appealing to institutional users. An XRP Ledger amendment in January saw a “clawback” feature go live on the network, allowing the issuer to reclaim or “claw back” certain tokens, such as RLUSD, from users’ wallets under specific conditions.
This feature is typically implemented for regulatory compliance, to recover assets in cases of fraud, illegal activities, or when tokens are sent to unintended addresses.