What backs RLUSD, Ripple's stablecoin?

The full answer

What Ripple says is in the RLUSD reserve

Ripple describes RLUSD as a stablecoin “backed one-to-one with high quality liquid assets, cash and cash equivalents” in its product documentation, as that page read on September 29, 2026 [1]. The documentation says the reserve is built in line with New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) guidance on stablecoin issuance [1].

Two of the components it lists are specific. One is US Treasury bills with a residual maturity of three months or less. The other is overnight reverse repurchase agreements (repos) using Treasury bills or notes, with counterparties NYDFS has approved [1].

Ripple’s guide for institutions, published September 11, 2026, gives a shorter version. It says RLUSD’s reserves are held in cash, short-term US Treasuries and cash equivalents [2]. A table in the same guide sets out the reserve rules for a state trust charter such as New York’s: cash, government money-market funds, short-dated Treasuries and Treasury repo, all segregated [2]. Ripple’s documentation says RLUSD has segregated reserve accounts and “clear redemption rights” [1].

Who issues RLUSD and who holds the reserve

Standard Custody & Trust Company (SCTC), a Ripple subsidiary, issues RLUSD under a limited-purpose trust company charter granted by NYDFS, according to Ripple’s September 2026 guide. The guide dates RLUSD’s launch to December 2024 [2]. Ripple’s documentation adds that SCTC and other regulated Ripple subsidiaries issue and distribute the coin [1].

On custody, Ripple said in September 2026 that it has engaged BNY Mellon as a reserve custodian [2]. The wider set of charters and licences behind this is covered in which licences Ripple holds to run payments, custody and stablecoins.

Who checks the reserves, and how often

Ripple’s documentation says Ripple provides monthly reserve reports conducted by Deloitte, which it calls an independent third-party accounting firm [1]. The September 2026 guide lists the verification standard under a state trust charter as a monthly independent CPA attestation under AICPA standards [2]. Elsewhere, the documentation refers to “regular audits” among the protections it says are designed for holders [1].

When is each monthly RLUSD reserve report published?

Ripple’s documentation, as it read on September 29, 2026, describes the reserve reports as monthly and names Deloitte as the firm that produces them [1]. Ripple’s transparency page says reports will be available monthly no more than 30 days after the month end [5]. Each report gives a figure for one point in time, so the newest numbers always trail the calendar by some days. The circulating supply and reserve totals from those reports are tracked on the page about how much RLUSD exists and how fast it is growing.

What the national trust bank approval would change

On December 12, 2025, Ripple said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) had given it conditional approval to establish Ripple National Trust Bank [3]. Ripple’s release said that with a national trust bank managing RLUSD reserves, its stablecoin business would be overseen at both state and federal level, by NYDFS and the OCC [3].

That arrangement is not in place yet. Ripple’s own September 2026 guide calls the approval “one step in a multi-stage federal chartering process, not a completed charter” [2]. The guide also says the GENIUS Act will introduce a more consistent federal framework for payment stablecoin issuers as its requirements take effect [2]. Those federal rules are set out in what reserves stablecoins must hold under the GENIUS Act.

How dollars move into and out of the reserve

Ripple’s documentation describes a mint-and-burn cycle. When fiat is received, RLUSD is minted to the customer’s wallet. On the way out, RLUSD is burned and fiat is settled to the customer’s bank account [1].

Institutional customers redeem by sending RLUSD on-chain to Ripple’s redemption wallet. Ripple then runs a compliance check on the customer’s wallet and pays out fiat if the check passes. Retail businesses access RLUSD through exchanges and on-ramps, the documentation says [1]. Whether that redemption holds up under stress, and what happens if the issuer fails, is the subject of the RLUSD redemption page.

The case against relying on reserve-backed stablecoins

The Bank for International Settlements set out the main critique in its Annual Economic Report on June 24, 2025 [4]. It said stablecoins are typically backed by a nominally equivalent amount of assets, and that any new issuance needs full upfront payment by holders, which it argues undermines elasticity. In the BIS view, issuers holding assets with credit or liquidity risk cannot fully guarantee stability under all contingencies, because holders can redeem at short notice [4].

The BIS also wrote that par promises are “generally – but, importantly, not always – honoured,” and that the model stays profitable because assets yield at least risk-free rates while the coins pay holders nothing [4]. It described a tension between always delivering par and needing a profitable business that takes on liquidity or credit risk. If stablecoins keep growing, the BIS added, they could create a tail risk of fire sales of safe assets [4]. Where that reserve income ends up is covered in who earns the interest on RLUSD’s reserves.

A separate argument concerns what a well-backed dollar coin means for XRP itself. That debate is laid out in whether RLUSD and other stablecoins will replace XRP.