Blockchain firm Ripple says it is preparing to bring its stablecoin to the world’s exchanges.
The dollar-backed Ripple USD (RLUSD) will be available beginning Dec. 17, the company announced Monday (Dec. 16), in the latest example of rising enthusiasm in the digital asset sector following the election of Donald Trump last month.
“Early on, Ripple made a deliberate choice to launch our stablecoin under the NYDFS limited purpose trust company charter, widely regarded as the premier regulatory standard worldwide,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in a news release. “As the U.S. moves toward clearer regulations, we expect to see greater adoption of stablecoins like RLUSD, which offer real utility and are backed by years of trust and expertise in the industry.”
According to the release, RLUSD will be initially available on Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax, and CoinMENA, and is expected to become available on platforms like Bullish, Bitstamp, Mercado Bitcoin, Independent Reserve and Zero Hash in the weeks ahead.
The company argues RLUSD will allow institutions to facilitate instant settlement of cross-border payments, access liquidity for remittance and treasury functions, and provide collateral when trading tokenized real-world assets.
“Early next year, Ripple Payments will use RLUSD to facilitate global payments on behalf of its enterprise customers,” the release added. “Ripple Payments has served $70 billion in payments volume and counting, and has near-global coverage with 90+ payout markets, which represent more than 90% coverage of the daily FX market.”
Garlinghouse is among several crypto world figures expecting to see more “regulatory clarity” when Trump takes office next month. The hopes of a more crypto-friendly administration has led to a boom in crypto prices, with bitcoin reaching $103,000 Monday.
The price of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency had already exceeded $100,000 for the first time earlier in the month when Trump tapped crypto advocate Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote recently about the role of stablecoins as a “compelling alternative” for traditional cross-border payments, as they allow near-instantaneous transfers, much lower costs and enhanced transparency via blockchain technology.
“However, their utility has been somewhat limited by the difficulty of moving funds between stablecoins and fiat currencies — a gap that on-ramp and off-ramp services aim to fill,” that report said.
“For banks, this functionality highlights the emergence of a potentially stark choice: adapt to a changing payments landscape or risk disintermediation.”
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reportedly dropped a lawsuit against Comerica Bank that targeted the bank’s handling of a federal benefits program, alleging that it provided poor service to the recipients of benefits.
The Bureau told a U.S. District Court in a filing submitted Friday (April 11) that it was dismissing the suit, Reuters reported Friday.
The CFPB sued Comerica Bank in December, targeting the bank’s handling of the Direct Express program, which it had administered on behalf of the Department of the Treasury since 2008 and enables about 3.4 million federal beneficiaries to receive their monthly benefits payments through prepaid debit cards.
In its complaint, the CFPB alleged that Comerica Bank deliberately disconnected customer service calls, charged consumers illegal ATM fees, misled fraud victims, imposed illegal terms of service on consumers seeking to stop payments, failed to investigate account problems and forced consumers to close accounts to stop preauthorized payments.
“By deliberately disconnecting millions of calls and harvesting illegal junk fees, Comerica boosted its bottom line at the expense of Americans living on a fixed income,” then-CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said at the time in a press release.
Reached by PYMNTS on the day the lawsuit was announced, Comerica Bank said in an emailed statement that it would continue to defend its record as the financial agent for the Direct Express program and that it filed a lawsuit against the CFPB in November challenging the Bureau’s “regulatory overreach and its handling of this case.”
“Throughout the CFPB’s investigation, we have cooperated by sharing information and data to illustrate the unique nature of this program and the fact that we operate with the oversight of the Fiscal Service,” the statement said. “Despite our good faith efforts to provide this critical context, the CFPB has consistently ignored our arguments and documentation.”
It was reported in March that the CFPB asked a federal judge to pause the enforcement action that the agency filed against Comerica Bank.
CFPB Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta said in court papers that the agency was considering next steps and that the new CFPB leadership sought “time to review the matter,” Reuters reported March 3.
