Oct 15 (Reuters) - Crypto firm Ripple launched a

stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, looking to

disrupt a market in which the top two incumbents account for

nearly 90% of the value.

The venture marks a major milestone for Ripple, coming more

than a year after a landmark win in a case against the

Securities and Exchange Commission last year.

However, it will face the uphill task of elbowing into a

concentrated market where the two biggest players - Tether

and USD Coin (USDC) - account for nearly 90% of the

total market capitalization, according to data from CoinGecko.

The stablecoin, RLUSD, will be available globally on a slew

of platforms including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay,

Independent Reserve, CoinMENA and Bullish, Ripple said.

Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to keep a constant

value. They are backed by traditional currencies such as the

U.S. dollar or euro.

They can be more suitable for payments and for converting

crypto tokens into traditional currencies as they are shielded

from the wild price fluctuations seen in bitcoin and

ether.

Each RLUSD token is 100% backed by U.S. dollar deposits,

U.S. government bonds and cash equivalents, Ripple said.

The company has appointed Sheila Bair, former chair of U.S.

banking regulator Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, on the

advisory board of RLUSD.

Previously, Bair was also the chair of the board at

government-backed mortgage finance company Fannie Mae and the

assistant secretary for financial institutions at the U.S.

Treasury Department.

The board will include Ripple co-founder and executive chair

Chris Larsen, along with David Puth, former CEO of CENTRE

Consortium.

CENTRE, which previously oversaw USDC, was a joint venture

between crypto exchange Coinbase and stablecoin network

Circle. It was shut down last year, with Circle taking full

control over the issuance and governance of USDC.