Moody’s Rates Ripple’s $2.6B RLUSD Stablecoin A2
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Written by
Simonas Brazionis - Updated 2026-10-28 14:47:43
Moody's Ratings has assigned an A2 long-term deposit rating and a P-1 short-term deposit rating to Ripple USD (RLUSD), the dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Ripple's Standard Custody & Trust Company. This assessment reflects the quality of RLUSD's reserves, which are primarily held in Treasury bills, other short-term U.S. government assets, and cash, with BNY acting as the main custodian. Moody's Rates Ripple's $2.6B RLUSD based on these factors.
The A2 long-term grade is the sixth-highest, and P-1 is the top short-term grade on Moody's scale. Moody's noted a target of 103% coverage for tokens in circulation and confirmed that eligible institutional holders can redeem RLUSD at par within two business days. The ratings were requested by the issuer.
Holder Protection and Regulatory Oversight
The agency also identified certain gaps in holder protection. Standard Custody is not structured as a bankruptcy-remote entity, and current RLUSD holders do not possess a direct ownership interest in the reserves. However, Moody's indicated that the GENIUS Act, a U.S. stablecoin law slated for 2027, will exclude required reserves from an issuer's bankruptcy estate.
The Moody's assessment followed Ripple's final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for Ripple National Trust Bank, which will manage RLUSD's reserves and serve as their collateral trustee. RLUSD will continue to be issued by Standard Custody under the oversight of the New York Department of Financial Services, establishing both state and federal supervision for the stablecoin.
Institutional Adoption and Market Presence
RLUSD, launched in December 2024 on Ethereum and the XRP Ledger, currently holds a market capitalization of approximately $2.6 billion. Ripple has positioned the token for institutional adoption rather than retail trading. Standard Chartered initiated institutional custody services for RLUSD through its Dubai branch earlier this month.
The bank is also collaborating with Ripple and LMAX Group on a “collateral mirroring” system, enabling clients to use the stablecoin as trading collateral without removing it from the bank's records. In November 2025, Ripple partnered with Mastercard, WebBank, and Gemini to explore the use of RLUSD on the XRP Ledger for settling fiat transactions on the Gemini Credit Card, pending regulatory approvals. At that time, RLUSD had surpassed a $1 billion market cap, making it the 11th-largest stablecoin.
