Coinbase RLUSD Listing Goes Live the Same Week Moody's Rates Ripple's Stablecoin A2

Coinbase customers can now buy, hold and move Ripple's dollar stablecoin. The Coinbase RLUSD listing went live on Wednesday, October 28, across the retail app, Coinbase Exchange and the institutional Coinbase Prime platform, Reuters and The Block reported. It landed in the same week Moody's gave RLUSD an A2 rating and Ripple won final federal approval for its national trust bank.

For a stablecoin that launched in December 2024 and now sits at roughly $2.5 billion in market value (CoinGecko data cited by Reuters; Ripple puts it above $2.6 billion, per The Block), that is a lot of credibility arriving at once.

Where RLUSD shows up on Coinbase

According to The Block, customers can convert U.S. dollars and other supported dollar stablecoins into RLUSD at a 1:1 rate. Deposits and withdrawals work on three networks: the XRP Ledger, Ethereum and Coinbase's own Base network. Support for Coinbase Global Exchange customers, including the option to post RLUSD as collateral, is planned for later.

The listing matters because Coinbase has long been the home turf of USDC, the stablecoin it helped create with Circle. Reuters noted the exchange has been opening up, adding PayPal's PYUSD and Open USD, a joint venture backed by Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase.

"It's a really credentializing moment for RLUSD to not only be listed on Coinbase but to be embraced across the platform," Jack McDonald, Ripple's senior vice president of stablecoins, told Reuters. Brett Tejpaul, co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional, said in a release quoted by The Block that the move is another step toward an "everything exchange."

Coinbase users may remember the exchange was in the news recently for a different reason, the Amplitude incident that exposed contact data. Phishing that uses a new listing as bait is common, so get RLUSD only through the official app or site.

What Moody's A2 rating covers, and what it leaves out

Moody's assigned RLUSD an A2 long term and P-1 short term deposit rating, according to Unchained's report on the Moody's release. A2 is investment grade but several steps below Moody's top Aaa grade, while P-1 is its highest short term category. McDonald wrote on X that RLUSD is the first stablecoin to receive an investment grade rating from Moody's, a claim we could not independently confirm.

The rating applies only to RLUSD issued natively on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum by Standard Custody & Trust Company, the New York regulated Ripple subsidiary. Unchained reported these details from Moody's review:

• Reserves are held mainly in short dated U.S. government assets and cash, with a target of 103% of tokens outstanding.
• BNY, rated Aa1(cr), holds most of the Treasury bills and cash.
• Direct redemption at par settles in two business days, but only for onboarded institutions.

Moody's also flagged weak spots. The issuer is not bankruptcy remote, and holders have no direct ownership claim on the reserve. Segregated accounts and New York Department of Financial Services supervision help offset that, Moody's said, and the agency pointed to the GENIUS Act protections due in 2027 as a possible route to a higher rating. Our earlier piece on the OCC's final GENIUS Act rules explains what those protections change.

The federal side moved too. On Monday, October 26, Ripple received final OCC approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, which The Block and Unchained said is set to hold RLUSD reserves. Ripple has also been building out ways to use the token in settlement, including its RLUSD lending tie up with Arf.

Retail holders should note that the 1:1 conversion on Coinbase is a trading feature, not the institutional redemption Moody's reviewed. More stablecoin coverage is on our crypto page.