RLUSD lands on Coinbase and Base after Moody's A2 and P-1 ratings
Victoria Shinder2 min readRipple's dollar stablecoin now trades on the largest US crypto exchange. Coinbase added RLUSD to its retail app, Coinbase Exchange and its institutional platform Coinbase Prime under an agreement announced on 28 October, CryptoSlate reports, shortly after Moody's Ratings assigned the token investment-grade ratings.
Customers can convert US dollars and other supported dollar stablecoins into RLUSD at 1:1. Coinbase supports deposits and withdrawals on three networks: the XRP Ledger, Ethereum and Base, Coinbase's own layer-2 network, where Ripple will also provide liquidity. The companies plan to offer RLUSD to Coinbase Global Exchange customers and to let institutional traders post it as collateral. The listing follows a separate agreement with Robinhood earlier in the week. RLUSD, launched in December 2024, has a market capitalisation above $2.4 billion, according to the report.
Moody's assigned RLUSD an A2 long-term and a P-1 short-term deposit rating. A2 is within the investment-grade range and P-1 is Moody's highest short-term grade. According to the report, the agency based its view on the quality and liquidity of the reserves, redemption arrangements, custody, regulatory oversight and operational controls. The reserves consist mostly of short-term US government securities and cash, largely held at BNY; the issuer, Standard Custody & Trust Company, targets 103% reserve coverage, runs weekly liquidity stress tests and monitors reserves daily, and the reserves are segregated from the issuer's own assets. Ripple's Jack McDonald called RLUSD the first stablecoin to receive an investment-grade rating from Moody's.
What it means
For the XRP Ledger the listing matters less than where the volume goes: Base is dominated by Circle's USDC, and Coinbase supports RLUSD there as well as on the ledger Ripple built. A deposit rating speaks to credit and liquidity of the reserves, not to price stability in a run or to the holder's legal claim, which the report notes is not direct ownership of the assets.