Ripple USD (RLUSD)
US dollar stablecoin issued by Ripple through Standard Custody & Trust Company under a New York Department of Financial Services trust charter. RLUSD is fully backed by a segregated reserve of cash and US Treasuries with monthly independent attestations, natively issued on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, and bridged to more than 40 blockchain networks. Circulation passed $1.5 billion in mid-2026 as Ripple positioned it for institutional payments, custody, and compliance-focused settlement.
A competently run, transparent fiat-backed dollar stablecoin — strong operationally, weak on every M69 sovereignty axis: borrowed unit of account, full fiat reserves, freeze and clawback authority, and issuer-captured seigniorage.
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x3.0
Debt-free deposit-based minting with fully elastic two-way supply via redemption, but a single chartered issuer controls creation and the collateral is purely financial — no real-economy signal in issuance.
Spending Power Stability2x3.0
Full-reserve redemption keeps a tight dollar peg with monthly attestations ($1.62B reserves against $1.51B circulating in July 2026); the benchmark is the USD itself, so long-term purchasing power drift is inherited, not addressed, and the track record is under two years.
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x2.0
Hard 1:1 USD peg with 90-100% fiat reserves and full dependence on banking rails; fails with the dollar by design. Broad interoperability (40+ chains via native token transfers) is the only non-fiat strength.
Traction2x3.0
Growing fast for its age — $1.5B circulating, holders and active addresses rising, institutional integrations via a 2,300-institution compliance network — but monthly transfer volume fell 25% in mid-2026, merchant acceptance is minimal, and it is never a unit of account distinct from the dollar.
Sovereignty2.0
Issuer-controlled with freeze and clawback capability built in for regulatory compliance, single-jurisdiction NYDFS charter, and surveillance-friendly design; token holding is self-custodial and pseudonymous, but core functions depend on the issuer.
Governance2.0
Corporate governance by a single entity under a regulatory charter; reserve attestations are public but decision-making is closed, and issuance terms can change at company discretion within regulation.
Resilience3.0
Well-funded, structurally simple full-reserve design with multi-chain redundancy and machine-friendly programmability, but it has never faced a major crisis and depends entirely on banking and legal infrastructure.
Inclusivity2.0
Anyone can hold and transfer the token, but minting and redemption are institutional and KYC-gated, reserve yield flows entirely to the issuer, and institutional participants operate under different terms than retail holders.