Ripple To Launch Rlusd Stablecoin Today! Experts Predict New Ath For Xrp

Blockchain payments firm Ripple has confirmed that it will be launching its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin called Ripple USD RLUSD on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. The cryptocurrency backed by the dollar, U.S. government bonds, and cash equivalents will be issued on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchains.

According to the announcement, RLUSD will initially trade on exchanges including MoonPay, Uphold, Bitso, Archax, and CoinMENA. Additional listings are expected on Bitstamp, Mercado Bitcoin, Independent Reserve, Zero Hash, and Bullish, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

By operating on XRP Ledger and Ethereum, Ripple is promising to offer flexibility and scalability for RLUSD to conduct cross-border transactions and DeFi integration across multiple blockchain ecosystems. The company also plans to integrate the dollar-backed stablecoin into its global payment network, which has so far processed over 70 billion worth of payment volume across 90 payout markets.

RLUSD's advisory board consists of former Federal Reserve Bank of Boston COO Kenneth Montgomery, and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan. In the company's press statement, the RBI governor said that stablecoins could become the "backbone of private payments" by offering a more secure, scalable, and efficient alternative to traditional payment technology.

Ripple said that its stablecoin will be regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services NYDFS, which has issued the firm a limited-purpose trust company charter. The charter was first issued to the crypto firm in 2015, making its products and services subject to New York banking laws.

Ripple promised it would publish third-party attestations to provide further insights into RLUSD's backing, which will be done each month by an independent auditing firm. The company believes this level of transparency will enhance the stablecoin's credibility among users.

Following the RLUSD announcement, the price of Ripple's XRP token jumped around 8 to change hands at 2.56 - Its highest valuation for the day. Earlier this month, the crypto surged to a seven-year high of 2.82, and its price remains up 122 over the last 30 days.

The positive sentiment for XRP also led to the token experiencing 18.62 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours as investors exited their positions. As per Coinglass data, 10.14 million in long positions, expecting prices to go up, and 8.48 million in short positions, expecting XRP to fall, were liquidated.

Looking at technical indicators on its price chart, XRP could record a new all-time high of 4.75. This would be triggered by a high volume move above the token's current resistance levels of 2.58 and 2.92.

RLUSD's launch comes during an interesting time in the crypto market, where stablecoins are now in high demand as they have notable uses in areas like remittances and decentralized finance DeFi. According to data sourced by DeFiLlama, the total market cap of stablecoins has shot up to over 200 billion - a steep increase from the 130 billion recorded in January 2024.

Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies backed by fiat currencies or stable assets to protect their value, are widely used in the market to trade against highly volatile crypto assets. Tether USD USDT, a dollar-denominated stablecoin issued by crypto firm Tether is considered to be the world's most-traded cryptocurrency. With a market capitalization of 140.4 billion, only Bitcoin BTC, Ethereum ETH, and XRP are more valuable than USDT.

Other popular stablecoins include Circle USD USDC, Paxos Dollar USDP, and Gemini Dollar GUSD. These fiat-backed digital currencies are no longer limited to crypto firms, as payment giants PayPal launched its PYUSD stablecoin last year while leading stock and crypto brokerage app Robinhood recently announced plans to support the Paxos-issued Global Dollar USDG coin.

Stablecoins are still subject to the upcoming U.S. regulatory regime for crypto assets, which can vary from state to state. Discussions were held by lawmakers to regulate stablecoins at a federal level since the legislation to do so was introduced by Senators Cynthia Lumiis and Kristen Gillibrand in 2022.

Last year, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee passed the 'Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act', a bill aiming to provide a clear framework for regulating stablecoins. However, it's still waiting to be passed in the House and Senate, which experts argue could involve a period of bargaining and more debate.