Robinhood taps Ripple’s $2.5 billion RLUSD stablecoin despite backing rival USDG

Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin will be accessible to Robinhood users before the end of this year.

This partnership involves RLUSD being used for Bitstamp settlements and adopting Ripple’s software for Robinhood’s treasury functions. The firms also plan to introduce perpetual futures trading later this year.

RLUSD, which launched in December 2024, has reached a market capitalization exceeding $2.5 billion, according to the press release.

Monica Long, president of Ripple, stated, "From bringing RLUSD to retail and institutional markets to helping Robinhood manage its own treasury operations, this partnership reflects growing institutional demand for integrated solutions that support customer-facing offerings and core financial operations."

The companies formalized this arrangement on Tuesday. RLUSD is currently available on Robinhood Chain and Bitstamp, which Robinhood acquired for $200 million in June.

This move places Robinhood in a unique situation because the firm helped establish the Global Dollar Network in 2024 to promote USDG, a competing stablecoin issued by Paxos.

In July, the consortium announced that USDG would serve as the default lending asset within Robinhood Earn, its onchain lending product. Robinhood reported 28.6 million funded customers as of the end of August.

Ripple also announced on Tuesday the expansion of its partnership with BNY to explore new institutional use cases for blockchain, including tokenized trade, following final OCC approval for the Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB) the day prior.