XRP Rises as Ripple Taps BNY Mellon to Custody US$500 Million in RLUSD Reserves

Ripple continues to make headlines with yet another major collaboration. This time, the San Francisco-based firm is tapping one of the most well-known global banking giants, BNY Mellon, for custody of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin.

In a statement from 9 July, Ripple said it would team up with The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY) “for the primary custody of Ripple USD (RLUSD) reserves”.

In the statement Ripple said:

RLUSD is one of a handful of stablecoins issued under a New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Trust Company Charter. RLUSD is currently the 16th largest stablecoin according to data from CoinGecko.

Related: Ripple Labs Seeks U.S. Bank Charter to Cement Crypto–Finance Bridge

Ripple’s Stablecoin Sees Rapid Growth in First Six Months

It has a market cap of US$501 million (AU$765.8 million) and a daily volume of US$51.5 million (AU$87.7 million). By comparison, stablecoin giants Tether and Circle dwarf these figures. Tether’s USDT has a market cap of US$158.8 billion (AU$242.7 billion) with a daily volume of US$71.5 billion (AU$109.3 billion).

Although RLUSD’s market cap is significantly lower than that of its peers, it has been rapidly growing since its start in late 2024.

Ripple sees its stablecoin mainly serving institutional clients, whereas Tether is mainly used by retail customers.

BNY Mellon will oversee RLUSD’s reserves, drawing on its deep experience in digital-asset support and stablecoin frameworks, while Ripple taps the bank’s advanced transaction banking to boost its operational efficiency and client offerings.

Jack McDonald, SVP of Stablecoins at Ripple, commented on the liaison:

Ripple CEO Talks Regulation in Front of Congress, CNBC

Meanwhile, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse spoke in front of the US Senate Banking Committee and advocated for clearer crypto regulation.

Garlinghouse said that the “US is long overdue for crypto market structure legislation which will protect consumers, establish jurisdictional swim lanes, and allow financial innovation to thrive.”

Related: BitGo CEO Says XRP Bridge Strategy Dead as Ripple Bets on RLUSD

He told CNBC that the partnership with BNY Mellon is “indicative of the shift of tide where we’ve had head winds for this industry, [which] are now becoming tailwinds”.

XRP has reacted well to the developments, moving up almost 5% in the past 24 hours. It is currently trading for US$2.42 (AU$3.69). This comes as the broader crypto market trends upward and Bitcoin made a new all-time high recently.