Ripple targets $13 trillion Treasury bond market with launch of RLUSD

Ripple is targeting the US$13 trillion corporate treasury market, with RLUSD stablecoins in circulation exceeding US$2.4 billion.

Ripple has determined that corporate treasury customers handling approximately US$13 trillion in annual transaction volume are regarded as potential distribution channels for its US$2.4 billion RLUSD stablecoins. The move marks a further expansion for Ripple in the institutional payments and settlement space.

Market Opportunities and Business Positioning

According to a report by CoinDesk on September 12, Jack McDonald, head of Ripple stablecoins, pointed out that the company's treasury management business aims to connect RLUSD with corporate payment, settlement and liquidity operations. This $13 trillion represents the annual transaction volume of Ripple Treasury customers, rather than RLUSD's expected transaction volume, revenue forecast or customer usage commitments.

Ripple entered the corporate treasury management field with its US$1 billion acquisition of GTreasury in October 2025. The business now operates as a "Ripple Treasury" and serves approximately 1,200 corporate treasurers and chief financial officers. McDonald said that companies using the platform conduct capital transfers domestically, cross-border and between subsidiaries."These customers have not entered the world of the chain before, and they touch approximately US$13 trillion in transaction volume every year."

Ripple has not disclosed how much of this activity translates into RLUSD usage. This figure only defines the existing trading basis, and any stablecoin conversion is a company goal rather than a confirmed future trading volume. McDonald stressed: "This opportunity is huge." However, he also clarified that this only represents Ripple's business views and does not mean that customers have agreed to use RLUSD instead of traditional payment methods such as bank deposits or wire transfers.

RLUSD Supply Growth and Daily Activity

According to Token Terminal data (quoted from CoinDesk), the circulating supply of RLUSD reached US$2.4 billion, an increase of more than 50% in the previous month. Currently, approximately US$1.4 billion is circulating on the Ethereum network, and another US$1 billion is issued on XRP Ledger.

Data provided by McDonald shows that the average daily activity of RLUSD climbed from approximately US$200 million at the beginning of 2026 to approximately US$750 million in August. "What excites us even more is the practicality and daily activities," he pointed out. As a result, Ripple places more emphasis on transaction use cases than on the total circulating value of stablecoins. Although RLUSD is growing rapidly, its size is still much smaller than Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, which have combined circulation of more than US$300 billion.

RLUSD is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services, and Ripple says it is entirely backed by reserves of cash and cash equivalents. However, the latest supply data comes from Token Terminal and has not been verified by Ripple audit. Since RLUSD is designed to track the U.S. dollar, it is normal for its price to fluctuate around 1 U.S. dollar and cannot directly reflect changes in adoption or investor demand.

Application Scenarios: Payments, Capital Markets and Major Brokers

McDonald said that RLUSD has become Ripple's main payment stablecoin. Financial institutions are expected to use it in settlement of transfers across currencies, jurisdictions, or entities within a business. In terms of capital markets, RLUSD is positioned as a cash asset for transaction settlement and collateral, supporting blockchain tokenized securities transactions that require dollar-denominated instruments.

Ripple has partnered with DBS and Franklin Templeton to explore an architecture involving tokenized money market funds and loans. A September 2025 announcement described features that allow investors to exchange their tokenized fund shares into RLUSD through smart contracts.

In addition, Ripple's main brokerage business provides another potential distribution route. Ripple acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion and reorganized it into Ripple Prime. Reuters has reported that Hidden Road liquidates approximately $3 trillion annually for more than 300 institutional customers. RLUSD can serve as collateral in major brokerage businesses. At the same time, Clearpool proposes to introduce institutional lending products to XRP Ledger, but this still requires governance approval and enforcement, and the lending behavior itself introduces risks that are different from directly holding stablecoins.

European Strategy: MiCA compliance and dual issuance structure

Ripple plans to widely launch RLUSD in Europe through a dual issuance structure that complies with the EU Cryptographic Asset Markets Regulation (MiCA). McDonald said the company must first complete the approval process. "Our primary goal is to provide RLUSD to Europe, but this requires a process of approving a dual issuance structure."

In February this year, the Luxembourg Financial Sector Supervisory Committee awarded Ripple a full Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license. Although the license supports regulated payment services, it does not directly confirm approval of a dual issuance RLUSD structure. Ripple must complete the relevant stablecoin authorization work before it can promote the product in compliance across the EU.

McDonald pointed out that market demand is still biased towards dollar-backed stablecoins rather than tokens denominated in euros or emerging market currencies. He distinguished stablecoins from deposit tokens circulated within banks, arguing that "stablecoins come in handy when you want to get out of that walled garden."

Multi-chain deployment and future outlook

RLUSD was originally available on Ethereum and XRP Ledger, but Ripple is preparing for deployment on Base, Ink, Optimism and Unichain. The company began testing these integrations through Wormhole's native token transfer standard in December 2025. Ripple's multi-chain announcement states that the structure allows publishers to retain control of native releases while supporting cross-network mobility. Each public deployment still requires testing and final approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services.

McDonald stated that Ripple has no intention of deploying RLUSD on all available blockchains. "We want to go where there is demand, rather than chasing the retail memein chain."

Currently, Ripple has not announced a completion date for the European dual issuance process. The company's next confirmation steps include the planned final regulatory clearance issued by Layer-2 and the separate approval work needed for RLUSD to enter Europe.