Ripple’s Stablecoin RLUSD Goes Live on Kraken—Is This a Game-Changer for Crypto?

In a significant turn of events, Ripple has announced that its stablecoin, RLUSD, has debuted on the Kraken exchange. Shortly before, Ripple disclosed that the stablecoin has been launched live for payment on its network. 

While live now for a small group of clients, the company has indicated that it will continue to roll out RLUSD to more institutional clients. It is all part of Ripple’s larger push to have stablecoins adopted in mainstream financial transactions, both in crypto spaces and in parts of traditional finance.

RLUSD Sees Strong Market Demand

Eric McDonald, SVP of Stablecoins at Ripple, pointed to the increasing call for RLUSD in the traditional financial markets. He pointed out that the stablecoin’s market capitalization was already over $240 million after launching in December. The demand suggests that RLUSD is not just being utilized by crypto traders but is even catching the eyes of legacy finance institutions.

There is growing demand for RLUSD, and therefore we are seeing the market cap grow,” McDonald said, confirming the growing use of the stablecoin in markets.

Stablecoins at the Center of Regulatory Discussions

The timing of Ripple’s announcement also comes at the same time as broader industry interest in stablecoins. In Washington, Congress is considering stablecoin legislation that will likely provide more clarity on the regulation of their issuance and use. This regulatory push could provide stablecoins such as RLUSD with a more secure platform and encourage them to be more attractive to institutional investors.

In the meantime, new players have entered the stablecoin space in recent times. World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project sponsored by Donald Trump, is the newest to launch its dollar-pegged stablecoin. New players aside, Tether’s USDT is the world’s market-leading stablecoin with the highest adoption rate in the market.

Ripple’s Strategy for RLUSD’s Long-Term Success

Ripple is counting on its strong enterprise network and increasing regulatory openness to establish RLUSD as a long-term stablecoin contender. While transparency and trust are still concerns in the sector, Ripple is hoping to leverage its reputation and relationships in the industry to build trust in RLUSD.

One huge leap in this direction has been Ripple’s recent collaboration with Chainlink, announced on January 7th. The partnership is aimed at making RLUSD more usable in decentralized finance (DeFi) by incorporating Chainlink’s price feeds on Ethereum and the XRP Ledger. 

What’s Next for RLUSD?

With increasing demand and increasing institutional adoption, RLUSD appears poised to claim an influential role in the stablecoin space. The current regulatory discussions in Washington could also impact its adoption, providing more clear-cut guidelines to stablecoin users and issuers.

Ripple’s growing number of strategic alliances and expanding payment network position RLUSD as a competitor to established stablecoins like USDT. Its success in the long term will depend on continued regulatory developments, bank adoption, and its capacity to provide a stable and reliable financial product.

With the expansion of the stablecoin market, RLUSD is gaining more prominence, and the efforts of Ripple show that it is not going anywhere.