Ripple CEO Bradley Garlinghouse has revealed that the fintech company’s U.S.-dollar pegged stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), is closer than ever to being launched as it eyes a share of the fast-growing stablecoin market.
During a Sept. 4 fireside chat at the ongoing Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul, South Korea, Garlinghouse said the firm would roll out RLUSD in “weeks, not months”.
“We’re in a private kind of closed beta,” the CEO posited. “It’s called Ripple USD. RLUSD has been minted in that framework. We will certainly launch soon. Weeks, not months.”
Ripple revealed its stablecoin ambitions in April, noting that the token would be “100% backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. government Treasuries, and other cash equivalents.” The firm started testing the token in August with enterprise partners.
Garlinghouse revealed that plans for RLUSD were made after USD Coin (USDC), the industry’s second-biggest stablecoin by market cap, de-pegged from $1 in March 2023.
“We felt like there was an opportunity for a credible player already working with lots of financial institutions to lean into that market,” he explained.
The stablecoin will initially be deployed on its native blockchain, XRP Ledger, and Ethereum, but there are plans to expand to more blockchains and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols over time.
USDT and USDC currently dominate the stablecoin market. Tether’s USDT accounts for a whopping 70% of the total stablecoin supply, while USDC takes up roughly 20%.
Ripple’s stablecoin plans follow further enhancements to the XRP Ledger (XRPL), including Ethereum smart contracts through a new sidechain.
Garlinghouse Has “No Interest” In US IPO
While there have been long-standing rumors of a potential Ripple initial public offering (IPO), Garlinghouse said during the fireside chat that he has “no interest” in the company going public in the United States. This is mainly due to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) hostile stance toward the crypto industry.
“SEC approved Coinbase going public in the United States, and now the SEC is suing Coinbase for the same things they approved,” Garlinghouse postulated. “One of the first pieces of advice I give entrepreneurs who ask me about starting crypto companies is: don’t incorporate in the United States. You’re just asking for more legal bills.”
Garlinghouse went on to predict the ouster of SEC chair Gary Gensler, regardless of who wins the forthcoming presidential election:
“I think no matter who wins the United States election, we’ll see new leadership in the U.S. SEC. I think [Gary Gensler] really has hurt his party. He’s a Democrat, and I think it’s hurt them in the current election cycle.”
On August 7, 2024, Judge Analisa Torres of New York ordered Ripple to pay $125 million as part of the final judgment in its protracted legal tussle with the Wall Street regulator. Ripple execs celebrated the ruling as a significant victory for the company and the crypto industry at large.
“There aren’t that many companies that actually can stand up to a bully. The SEC has a lot of power, and it takes a lot of money and a lot of conviction to fight that,” Garlinghouse added Wednesday. “But we really did that from the very, very beginning believe that we were on the right side of the law and that we’d be on the right side of history.”
Today, Ripple submitted a letter requesting a stay of the monetary portion of Judge Torres’ ruling last month. In other words, Ripple doesn’t want to hand over the $125M to the securities watchdog until “30 days after the time to appeal or the resolution of any appeal” expires.
The SEC has agreed to the request for a stay.
