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Major US crypto platform Coinbase has listed the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin for retail and institutional clients in the Prime and Exchange terminals and the standard app. Conversion to dollars has been launched at a 1:1 ratio across three networks at once: XRP Ledger, Ethereum, and Base.
The integration of Ripple's stablecoin product indicates the companies' transition to a direct commercial partnership: on the Base blockchain, the asset's liquidity will be supported by the issuer itself.
Who will have to make room
The project, with a capitalization of $2.4 billion, was originally created for the needs of the corporate sector, not to compete with large retail players like USDT.
Nevertheless, the token's appearance on Coinbase poses a direct challenge to Kraken's position. Until now, it was this exchange that held the dominant role in regulated RLUSD dollar pairs within the U.S.
According to RLUSD market data, the daily trading volume in the RLUSD/USD and RLUSD/USDC pairs on Kraken is just over $225,000, with parity to the dollar maintained. Coinbase's infrastructure is meant to drastically redistribute this landscape and scale the figures through an influx of American institutional clients.
Jack McDonald of Ripple noted that "institutional appetite for compliant, high-quality stablecoins is clear," but the market lacked access through platforms that "institutions already trust and use." Brett Tejpaul of Coinbase Institutional called the integration a step toward "the everything exchange," a unified trading environment built to provide "security and compliance."
The listing coincided with the OCC's approval for the creation of Ripple National Trust Bank under the supervision of the federal banking regulator. In parallel, Moody's assigned RLUSD investment ratings of A2 and P-1, confirming the quality of the reserves held at BNY.
The current alliance finally closes the previous chapter in the companies' relationship: in 2020, Coinbase urgently delisted the XRP token due to the SEC lawsuit against Ripple, restoring trading only three years later.
The scaling of the stablecoin in the American market is completed by its integration into Robinhood (28.6 million clients) by the end of the year and its implementation in the B2B platform C2FO for instant settlements.