Ripple USD (RLUSD)
About
Ripple USD (RLUSD) is a fully USD-backed stablecoin issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, LLC, a NYDFS-chartered limited purpose trust company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Ripple Labs Inc. Natively issued on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchains, RLUSD is designed for enterprise and institutional use cases including cross-border payments, remittances, fiat on/off ramps for crypto exchanges, and settlement for capital markets. The stablecoin is distributed exclusively through B2B relationships—pre-approved institutional customers—and is redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars.
Where Does Yield Come From?
RLUSD is a stablecoin fully backed by U.S. dollars and designed to keep a steady 1:1 value with the dollar. It does not earn yield (extra returns) for its holders — its only job is to hold its value, not to grow it.
The reserves that back RLUSD are made up of safe, easy-to-sell assets. These include:
- U.S. Treasury Bills that mature in three months or less
- Government Money Market Funds (low-risk funds that invest in short-term government debt)
- Overnight Reverse Repurchase Agreements (short-term loans backed by Treasuries, with approved partners)
- Deposits in U.S.-regulated banks
The rules require a safety cushion: total reserves must always be at least 103% of all RLUSD in circulation. This buffer is checked daily and adjusted as needed. All non-cash reserves are held at Bank of New York Mellon in separate accounts, and an independent auditor verifies the numbers every month.
The business behind RLUSD is about making payments and settling trades faster. Ripple uses both XRP and RLUSD in its payment system. RLUSD is only available to business partners who have passed identity and anti-money-laundering checks.
The stablecoin lives natively on two blockchains — the XRP Ledger (using its Issued Currencies feature) and Ethereum (as an ERC-20 token) — which lets it settle nearly instantly and work with programmable finance tools.
There are no staking, lending, or other yield-earning features tied to RLUSD in the official documentation. It is purely a tool for exchange and settlement, not for earning returns.
Persons
Chris Larsen
Executive Chairman of Ripple
Sheila Bair
Former Chair of the FDIC and Founding Chair of the Systemic Risk Council
David Puth
Former CEO of the CENTRE Consortium and Vice Chairman of North America, Partners Capital
Kenneth Montgomery
Former First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Raghuram Rajan
Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India
Brad Garlinghouse
Chief Executive Officer, Ripple
Monica Long
President, Ripple
Jon Bilich
Chief Financial Officer
Eric van Miltenburg
Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
Kiersten Hollars
Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Communications
Eric Jeck
Senior Vice President, Corporate and Business Development
Stuart Alderoty
Chief Legal Officer, Ripple
Mariel Kelley
Senior Vice President, People and Places
Anja Manuel
Board Member
Sandie O'Connor
Board Member
David Schwartz
Board Member
Warren Jenson
Board Member
Masashi Okuyama
Board Member
Audits
| Audit / Date | Findings | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| The audit found the RLUSD smart contracts to be secure with only low-severity issues identified, reflecting a clean security posture for the stablecoin and multi-signature contracts reviewed by OpenZeppelin. |
Backers
Ripple USD (RLUSD) is a product of Ripple Labs Inc., issued by its wholly-owned subsidiary Standard Custody & Trust Company, LLC. No separate venture capital rounds, dedicated investors, or fundraising amounts for RLUSD itself are disclosed on official Ripple sources. The parent company Ripple Labs Inc. lists the following institutional backers on its corporate website: Accenture, Andreessen Horowitz, BCG Digital Ventures, CME Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, GV (Google Ventures), Santander Innoventures, SBI Group, Seagate, and Standard Chartered. Ripple also notes that it has deployed over $600M across 70+ direct investments and 10+ limited partner investments since 2015, but these are Ripple's own investment activities, not funding raised by RLUSD.
Legal
Legal form
Limited Liability Company (LLC) operating as a Limited Purpose Trust Company chartered by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS); wholly owned subsidiary of Ripple Labs Inc. (a Delaware corporation)
Registration jurisdiction
Standard Custody & Trust Company, LLC — Delaware, USA (registered as an LLC); holds a New York Limited Purpose Trust Charter from NYDFS and is licensed as a money transmitter in multiple U.S. states. Ripple Labs Inc. (parent) — incorporated in Delaware, USA, with principal offices in San Francisco, California.
Status and notes
RLUSD is issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, LLC (NMLS ID: 2261284), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ripple Labs Inc. SCTC holds a Limited Purpose Trust Charter regulated by the NYDFS and is licensed as a money transmitter in multiple U.S. states (CT, GA, IA, KS, KY, ME, MD, MN, MS, NM, NY, ND, OH, OK, PR, RI, SD). RLUSD User Terms (last updated Oct 3, 2024) are governed by New York law with exclusive venue in the Southern District of New York. Ripple's Terms of Use (governed by California law, venue San Francisco County, CA) apply to ripple.com generally. The parent company Ripple Labs Inc. is backed by Accenture, Andreessen Horowitz, GV, SBI Group, and others. Imprint, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Money Transfer Licenses, Compliance & Disclosures, and RLUSD User Terms are all available on ripple.com/legal/. RLUSD is redeemable 1:1 for USD by Customers under the RLUSD Customer Agreement.