Ripple achieves USD $1B RLUSD milestone, major deals & USD $500M boost

Ripple has announced several milestones and partnerships focused on advancing blockchain adoption and enterprise-grade digital asset solutions, including a significant stablecoin achievement, a major acquisition, a collaborative payments initiative, and a substantial strategic investment.

Stablecoin RLUSD surpasses USD $1 billion market cap

Ripple reported that its RLUSD stablecoin has crossed the USD $1 billion market capitalisation mark. The milestone, shared officially, reflects RLUSD's increasing role within institutional finance, supported by the adoption of Ripple Prime (formerly Hidden Road), GTreasury, and Rail. The company stated that RLUSD is establishing itself as a central stablecoin for institutional settlement worldwide.

RLUSD: One Year, One Billion → $1B+ Market Cap → 1:1 USD-backed → The #1 trusted and transparent stablecoin for institutions With Ripple Prime, GTreasury, and Rail now joining the effort, $RLUSD and $XRP will drive faster, efficient and compliant settlement worldwide. This is how we advance the future of finance.

Acquisition of Palisade bolsters digital asset custody

Ripple has expanded its custody capabilities by acquiring Palisade, a digital asset wallet and custody provider. The acquisition aims to meet institutional demand for secure storage, fast transaction capability and broad blockchain support. The combined platform is expected to offer solutions covering long-term storage, real-time global payments, and treasury management for fintechs, corporates and crypto-native firms.

Monica Long, President of Ripple, commented:

Secure digital asset custody unlocks the crypto economy and is the foundation that every blockchain-powered business stands on-that's why it's central to Ripple's product strategy. Corporates are poised to drive the next massive wave of crypto adoption. Just as we've seen major banks go from observing to actively building in crypto, corporates are now entering the market, and they need trusted, licensed partners with out-of-the-box capabilities. The combination of Ripple's bank-grade vault and Palisade's fast, lightweight wallet makes Ripple Custody the end-to-end provider for every institutional need, from long-term storage to real-time global payments and treasury management.

Ripple Custody is already utilised by global institutions such as Absa Bank, BBVA, DBS, and Societe Generale - FORGE. The solution offers features like tamper-proof audit trails, cryptographic approval processes ideal for compliance, and integration of multiple vaults for broad asset oversight. Palisade's architecture incorporates multi-party computation, zero-trust security models, and multi-chain support, while also enabling integration with decentralised finance protocols.

Palisade's technology will be integrated into Ripple Payments, supporting use cases that require rapid movement of value, including subscription payments and efficient fund management. Ripple continues to evolve its custody platform, maintaining partnerships with compliance providers such as Chainalysis and Elliptic. The company reports over a decade of experience and more than 75 regulatory licences and registrations globally.

Ripple highlighted that this acquisition aligns with its series of investments and acquisitions in the digital assets space in recent years, totalling approximately USD $4 billion in strategic investments and mergers and acquisitions.

Stablecoin settlement in card payments

Ripple has announced a collaboration with Mastercard, WebBank, and Gemini to pilot the settlement of fiat card transactions using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The effort aims to demonstrate how regulated stablecoins can support traditional payments infrastructure, initially focusing on the Gemini Credit Card and settlement processes managed by Mastercard and WebBank.

Sherri Haymond, Global Head of Digital Commercialisation at Mastercard, commented:

Mastercard continues to build the foundation for the next generation of payments. This partnership builds on our ongoing work to integrate regulated, open-loop stablecoins into our global payments network and test how blockchain can improve existing systems within a safe, compliant framework.

The partnership marks one of the earliest instances of a regulated U.S. bank using a public blockchain to settle card transactions with a regulated stablecoin, expanding on existing Ripple collaborations in the payments space.

Jason Lloyd, President and CEO of WebBank, said:

Banks are uniquely positioned to bridge innovative blockchain technology with the stability of the traditional financial system. Our collaboration with Mastercard, Gemini, and Ripple, allows us to explore how stablecoins like RLUSD can make institutional payments faster and more efficient while maintaining the security and dependability customers expect from banks.

Dan Chen, Chief Financial Officer at Gemini, added:

Through the Gemini Credit Card, we're advancing the way that digital assets are integrated into everyday spending. In this next phase of the collaboration, we're demonstrating how stablecoin settlement can be applied to an active card program, connecting blockchain innovation to real consumer payments.

Monica Long, President of Ripple, also stated:

Financial institutions around the world are increasingly recognising the value of blockchain and stablecoins in modernising how money moves. This partnership is a meaningful step toward showcasing how regulated digital assets like RLUSD can enhance settlement, paving the way for other card programs to adopt stablecoins for faster, compliant payments. The XRPL will serve as the backbone for these and other institutional use cases that are transforming how financial services operate.

RLUSD is issued under the New York Department of Financial Services Trust Company Charter and fully backed by cash and cash-equivalent reserves. The stablecoin has grown to over USD $1 billion in circulation since its launch in late 2024.

Strategic investment and valuation

Ripple disclosed a USD $500 million strategic investment led by Fortress and Citadel Securities, which values the company at USD $40 billion. The investment follows a year that the company describes as its strongest to date, including a recent USD $1 billion tender offer at the same valuation. The company has actively prioritised providing liquidity for shareholders and employees, with more than 25% of outstanding shares repurchased in recent years.

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO, stated:

This investment reflects both Ripple's incredible momentum, and further validation of the market opportunity we're aggressively pursuing by some of the most trusted financial institutions in the world. We started in 2012 with one use case - payments - and have expanded that success into custody, stablecoins, prime brokerage and corporate treasury, leveraging digital assets like XRP. Today, Ripple stands as the partner for institutions looking to access crypto and blockchain.

Ripple has completed six acquisitions in just over two years, two of which were valued at over USD $1 billion. The company reports that Ripple Payments volumes have exceeded USD $95 billion, with its services spanning across payments, custody, prime brokerage, and treasury management. Partnerships with companies such as GTreasury and Rail have enabled Ripple to offer a suite of enterprise digital asset solutions and expand the use of RLUSD for functions such as treasury payments and collateral.

Institutional adoption of Ripple's offerings appears to be accelerating, driven in part by growing demand for digital assets designed to meet regulatory and operational requirements for global finance.